Judge recuses himself from sentencing of former Memphis officers convicted in Tyre Nichols federal trial
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The judge who oversaw the federal trial of five former Memphis Police officers convicted in Tyre Nichols’ death recused himself days before two of those former officers were set to be sentenced.
Judge Mark Norris sat on the bench throughout the entire federal trial of Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, and Justin Smith. Former officers Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr. accepted plea deals prior to the federal trial.
Smith and Bean were expected to be the first two defendants to be sentenced. That sentencing date was set for Monday, June 16. But both were taken off the docket Friday evening. That’s because Judge Norris abruptly recused himself from the sentencing Friday.
“The undersigned Court recuses itself in this matter and respectfully returns the matter to the Clerk for reassignment to another United States District Judge for all further proceedings,” the court order reads.
FOX13 called attorneys for each of the former officers; Martin Zummach, attorney for Justin Smith, said “I don’t agree with sealing documents, I think the public has a right to know what’s happening. But because the documents are sealed, I cannot comment.” He added that he was not contacted by the federal court Friday about any changes to the sentencing schedule. Blake Ballin, attorney for Desmond Mills, Jr., also said he could not comment. We have not yet heard back from attorneys for the other three men.
Mills and Martin are expected to be sentenced to up to 14 and 40 years in federal prison, respectively.
During the federal trial, Bean, Smith, and Haley were all convicted of obstruction of justice, a charge that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. Haley was also convicted of using unreasonable force resulting in injury.
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