Second Memphis police officer pleads guilty in death of Tyre Nichols
Adds statement by defense lawyer, paragraph 5
By Daniel Trotta
Aug 23 (Reuters) -A second former Memphis police officer pleaded guilty on Friday to federal charges in the death of Black motorist Tyre Nichols, whose videotaped beating by five Black officers in January 2023 shocked the United States.
Emmitt Martin III, one of five fired officers facing criminal charges, was also expected to plead guilty to related Tennessee state charges, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.
Martin pleaded guilty to two of the four federal counts against him - one for depriving Nichols' civil rights, and another for witness tampering - and agreed to cooperate with the investigation, according to his plea agreement filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
That raises the possibility he may testify against fellow former officers, as Martin admitted to conspiring with the others to provide a misleading account of the beating.
"Driven by anger, Emmitt Martin used excessive force on Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023. Driven by fear, he tried to cover it up. Today, in open court, he accepted responsibility for what he did," defense attorney Stephen Ross Johnson said in an email. Johnson declined to say whether Martin would testify against others.
In November, another fired Memphis police officer, Desmond Mills, pleaded guilty to federal charges and agreed to plead guilty to related Tennessee state charges, part of a deal in which he pledged to cooperate with both state and federal prosecutions, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office said at the time.
In exchange for his guilty plea, Mills, who was facing life in prison, agreed to a 15-year sentence with state and federal prosecutors, the statement said.
Under Martin's deal, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than 40 years, and that Martin may seek a term of less than that.
Martin and Mills were among five officers who had previously pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights offenses and state charges of second-degree murder.
The federal trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 9. The state trial is on hold while the federal case develops.
The case is one of a series raising the national debate about racism and police brutality in the United States.
Police video showed the officers kicked, punched, pepper-sprayed and struck Nichols with a baton on Jan. 7, 2023. Nichols, 29, died in hospital three days later.
Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Aurora Ellis and William Mallard
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
