A federal judge in Memphis on Thursday ordered a new trial for three former Memphis Police Department officers tied to the death of Tyre Nichols after a January 2023 traffic stop.
U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman issued the order after defense lawyers argued that the judge who presided over the federal trial, Mark S. Norris, was biased because he had suggested at least one of the officers might be connected to a gang. Lipman said she was not faulting Norris’s conduct during the trial, but she ordered a new trial to satisfy the appearance of justice and directed prosecutors and defense teams to file arguments by Sept. 15 on which counts should be retried.
The defendants are Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith. Haley was found guilty of excessive force resulting in injury, deliberate indifference resulting in injury, conspiracy to witness tamper and witness tampering, and Bean and Smith were found guilty of witness tampering and acquitted on several other charges. Each officer faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Lipman’s decision to order a new trial came after prosecutors said Norris made remarks to members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI following the trial that fueled questions about his impartiality. Prosecutors and the defendants’ lawyers told the court there was no evidence of gang affiliations by the officers or the Memphis Police Department, and Norris subsequently recused himself from the case in June ahead of scheduled sentencing.
Separately, a state jury in a different proceeding found the three former officers not guilty of second-degree murder and other charges in May. Two other officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., had previously pleaded guilty to charges related to Nichols’s death.
What this means next: the court will determine which counts will be retried, and a timetable for the new federal proceedings will be set after the Sept. 15 submissions. The Nichols case continues to be a focal point in ongoing conversations about policing accountability and judicial fairness, with the new trial aimed at ensuring a process that upholds public confidence in the pursuit of justice. Summary: a new federal trial is ordered to address concerns about appearance of justice, with counts to be clarified and retrial timing to follow. A more hopeful takeaway is that the legal process remains focused on fair treatment and accountability, even in a high-profile case.