State trial for Tyre Nichols’ death continues as defense rests case during Day 3
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Prosecutors rested their case before noon Wednesday after calling five witnesses to testify in the state trial against three former Memphis police officers accused in the traffic stop beating death of Memphis civilian Tyre Nichols.
The defense has called three witnesses to the stand so far, with many more to come.
Action News 5 is streaming this trial live each day.
The most notable witness whom attorneys have called to testify so far is a former MPD SCORPION Unit officer who was also fired as a result of the Tyre Nichols investigation, but was never criminally charged.
Former Memphis police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith are pleading not guilty to their seven-count indictment, which includes second-degree murder.
Two other former officers were also charged in state court.
Mills testified Tuesday as part of his plea deal. He also pleaded guilty to his federal charges.
Emmitt Martin III’s state trial will be severed from the other officers.
On the night of January 7, 2023, investigators say that officers with the Memphis Police Department‘s now-defunct SCORPION Unit pulled Nichols over in Hickory Hill for alleged reckless driving.
Investigators say he ran from the initial traffic stop at Ross and East Raines Road until officers caught him at Ross and Castlegate Lane near his parents’ house.
All five now-former MPD officers are accused of fatally beating Nichols, who was unarmed, in their effort to detain him. Nichols was unresponsive by the time he was in cuffs and died at the hospital three days later.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Cybercrime Investigations Special Agent Derek Miller was the state’s first witness to take the stand Wednesday.
Miller is also the first to deliver expert testimony in this trial.
Shelby County Deputy District Attorney and lead prosecutor Paul Hagerman asked Miller to share his expertise on the photo that former officer Haley reportedly took of Nichols using his personal phone at the scene of his arrest.
Haley is accused of taking this “trophy photo” of Nichols while he was beaten, bloody and unconscious and sending it to at least eight people, some of whom testified in the federal trial.
“It appears the photo was shared at least 11 times, although we found conversations with eight people,” Agent Miller said.
This is the first time the public saw this image.
The state also called Officer Rodresha Mackey to the stand. She keeps records for the Memphis Police Department.
Mackey recited to the jury the oath that former officers Smith, Haley, and Bean took when they graduated from the police academy.
The prosecution’s final witness was Dr. Marco Ross, the chief medical examiner and a forensic pathologist for the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center.
Dr. Ross conducted the autopsy on Nichols after he died at St. Francis Hospital on Jan. 10, 2025.
He testified that Nichols suffered traumatic brain injuries consistent with those he sees in fatal car crashes.
“I usually see these type of injuries in car accidents, for example, or people falling off of a high height of some sort,” Dr. Ross said.
Autopsy photos were also shown in court, showing cuts and bruising across Nichols’ entire body.
Dr. Ross also points out a gash on Nichols’ head and a broken front tooth. However, he admitted that the autopsy could not determine when that tooth was broken.
Dr. Ross testified that Nichols’ cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. His manner of death was ruled a homicide.
When the defense questioned the chief medical examiner, it was established that a criminal investigation was not underway at the hospital when Nichols was admitted.
As a result, law enforcement did not collect fluid samples from Nichols on-site, and they were instead sent from hospital staff to the forensic center in the days that followed his death.
Dr. Ross testified that urine, for example, needs to be preserved via refrigeration in order to get accurate testing results.
According to him, there are no records from the hospital that indicate how those samples from Nichols were preserved.
Nichols’ toxicology report shows that he tested positive for alcohol (within legal limits,) a “moderate” amount of marijuana, caffeine, nicotine, the Narcan that was administered to him when he was arrested, and other medications from the hospital.
The defense called its first witness to the stand after lunch recess.
One of those witnesses was Chuck Baker, the lead investigator with TBI over the Nichols case.
The investigation was initially brought to the TBI as an officer-involved aggravated assault case, with Nichols being the victim.
The case escalated to a murder investigation after Nichols died.
Attorneys tried to make a point that the state agency didn’t investigate the case fully by identifying for the jury what questions Baker could and could not answer regarding the details of the investigation.
The defense also tried painting a picture of Nichols’ character and motivations by asking the TBI agent what investigators found in his car after his encounter with police.
Baker testified that a small amount of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms were found in the trunk after Nichols was detained.
Credit cards that were reported stolen were also found.
The defense’s first witness was a woman who testified that back in 2022, her military ID and credit cards were stolen from her wallet out of her car, though it was not explicitly said that Nichols was the culprit.
And despite these findings, Baker said the things found in Nichols’ car “had no direct bearing on the seriousness of the case I was asked to investigate.”
Baker said the video evidence that stuck out to TBI the most was the SkyCop video of the beating, particularly the parts that show the blows to Nichols’ head.
PRIOR COVERAGE — Footage released of Tyre Nichols traffic stop
When asked if TBI determined criminal behavior was involved in that footage, Baker said, “Oh yes.”
The final witness to testify on behalf of the defense Wednesday was former SCORPION Unit officer Preston Hemphill, who was the sixth officer fired amid the investigation, but was never criminally charged.
Hemphill testified that on the night of Jan. 7, 2023, he and former officers Haley and Martin witnessed a blue Nissan Sentra speeding southbound on Riverdale Road.
He said that the driver, later identified as Nichols, ignored Martin’s blue lights and ran a red light as he sped away, escalating the nature of the stop.
“Reckless driving, getting away from police, and just fleeing from police increases the risk of the traffic stop,” Hemphill said.
The three now-former officers pursued Nichols together.
Hemphill said the traffic stop escalated even more after Nichols did finally pull over at Ross and Raines, because the 29-year-old did not comply with the officer’s commands when he was pulled from his car.
“He refused to put his hands behind his back and managed to turn around and be facing towards Haley,” Hemphill testified.
Hemphill is expected to continue his testimony Thursday.
In the coming days, the defense could also call more character witnesses, a use-of-force expert, DNA expert, and more. This trial could last two weeks.
Testimony continues at 9 a.m. Thursday.
According to Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp, the jury is from Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga.
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