« This wasn’t one punch. It was over and over and over and over and over again, and not one of these defendants tried to stop it, » the prosecutor told the court.
Three police officers have been convicted of witness tampering in the case of Tyre Nichols, who died after a prolonged beating during a traffic stop in Memphis.
However, they were cleared of civil rights charges that could have seen them locked up for life.
Mr Nichols, a father of one, died three days after officers punched, kicked and hit him with a baton in January 2023 as he was just yards from his home.
The 29-year-old’s death and a video of the incident – in which he cried out for his mother – sparked outrage in the US and led to police reform.
One of the officers, Demetrius Haley, was found guilty on two counts of « deprivation of rights resulting in bodily injury » – each of which carries a maximum 10-year sentence.
But the federal jury decided that offence did not result in Mr Nichols’ death, ruling out a possible life sentence.
Haley was also found guilty of two counts of witness tampering; while the other two officers, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith, were convicted on one witness tampering count but cleared of the civil rights charges.
