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Source: Memphis Police Department / Memphis Police Department
The “alleged” murder of Tyre Nichols was another soul-crushing example of how police treat the citizens that they swore to protect, especially the Black citizens. What makes this case particularly galling is the fact that all five of the “blue lives” that worked together to end Nichols’ are Black men. It really be your own people. In the aftermath of the viral killing, all five men, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin lll, and Taddarius Bean, and Desmond Mills (the bald man pictured in the middle of the above photo), were indicted for federal civil rights crimes in addition to Tennessee state crimes including second-degree murder.
According to KSL, Mills has formally entered a guilty plea to one count each of excessive force and witness tampering. In exchange for his guilty plea, the report states that Mills has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors which suggests that he will testify against his former colleagues in order to knock down his potential prison sentence from life to fifteen years. Tables turn fast when lawyers start throwing that four-letter L-word around.
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
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Ubiquitous civil rights attorney Ben Crump and his partner Antonio Romanucci are representing the Nichols family and spoke on the gravity of Mills’ decision to cooperate saying, “This is a monumental shift in policing today, watching another police officer who will testify against his own,” according to Daily Memphian.
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
4 Ex-Memphis Police Officers To Appear In Court Together
Action News 5 is reporting that four aforementioned former cops will appear in Shelby County Court today Monday, Nov. 6 to answer for the state charges against them including the second-degree murder charge.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, the lead prosecutor in the case, made it very clear what he expects from Mills if he wishes to dodge a life sentence in prison, via Action News 5:
“He is fully cooperating and we expect him to continue to fully cooperate, answering all questions truthfully, testifying to his role in the incident and what he saw the other defendants commit at the same incident,” said Steve Mulroy the Shelby County District Attorney. “And if he deviates from that, if he does not cooperate or he provides anything less than a truthful testimony than the deal is off.”
Not too often that a cop is willing to point the finger at his cop friends under oath. Hopefully, this will inspire some level of change and accountability amongst officers but we won’t be holding our breath.
