Tyre Nichols case: Judge nears date to rule on releasing trove of records, video
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. is nearing a ruling on whether he will allow a trove of city and county documents, video and audio to be released publicly amid the criminal prosecution of five now-former Memphis police officers who have been charged with Tyre Nichols' beating and death.
The records have been the subject of litigation from a coalition of news media outlets, including The Commercial Appeal, that asked for the records to be released quickly.
No decision was made during a hearing Friday morning, but Jones said he anticipates having come to one, or will hear further arguments, by the next scheduled court appearance on Aug. 18.
Friday's court appearance also saw each of the indicted former officers in the courtroom again. An attorney for ex-officer Justin Smith, Martin Zummach, asked towards the end of the appearance if it would be permissible for the defendants to not appear in court further. Jones said he would allow that if discovery was not complete by Aug. 18 date. If it is, Jones said, the officers will have to appear.
Discovery, although an ongoing process throughout a case, is "substantially complete," Paul Hagerman, lead prosecutor from the Shelby County District Attorney's Office, said Friday.
"We've turned over everything we have in our possession, which is over a terabyte, I think, of information," Hagerman told reporters after the court appearance. "It's been quite extensive, and [the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation] and people in my office have done a really great job getting all of these defense attorneys what they want in a relatively quick period of time."
Hagerman added that, although the case "seems to be progressing slowly," discovery has been relatively quick. With the Shelby County District Attorney's Office delivering all of the discovery in its possession, defense attorneys will have time to request additional documents that they might need for trial.
What happens next
Adding to the mixed bag of topics touched upon in court Friday were the two motions asking for a separate trial from Smith and Tadarrius Bean. Those motions were filed Wednesday, and Jones said he would consider them prior to the next court appearance.
Hagerman did not say whether the DA's office opposed the motions to sever but said they will present their position as a trial date nears, saying it is "a little early to litigate any of those" motions.
Blake Ballin, who is representing Desmond Mills Jr., has not filed a severance motion but said he is thinking about it. He said cases similar to the Nichols case have a "default position" of joint prosecution.
"There are strategic advantages to having something like this tried all at once and there are potential advantages to having them separated," Ballin told reporters outside the courtroom. "But at the end of the day, I need to do some legal research to see if there's a legal reason for that."
Also in court were Nichols' siblings, Jamal Dupree and Keyana Dixon, and mother, RowVaughn Wells. This was not Wells' first time seeing in person the officers who are charged with beating her son, but it was for the two California-based siblings.
"It's been nice having my kids around. That's always good," Wells told a reporter from The CA Friday. "Under these circumstances, I just wanted to make sure that they were prepared to deal with today. A couple were, one was not. Keyana [Dixon] took it a little bit harder, but that was her baby brother. She helped raise him with me. She's like his second mother."
Dixon was emotional when talking to press outside of the courtroom. She told reporters the officers "tortured" Nichols and "laughed" at him the night of Jan. 7, when he was pulled over and beaten. When Dupree was asked what he would say to the charged officers if he had the chance, he listed several questions.
"Why? What was the point? What was your reason? What did you gain from this?" he said.
Nichols died Jan. 10, three days after being beaten by officers from the Memphis Police Department. He was in critical condition when an ambulance took him to St. Francis Hospital after officers punched, kicked, pepper sprayed and hit him with a baton.
His cause of death, according to his autopsy report, was blunt force trauma to the head. The manner of death was listed as homicide.
The five officers all face the same charges. They were indicted on one count of second-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of official oppression, two counts of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of official misconduct.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Judge yet to rule on trying ex-officers separately in Tyre Nichols case
