Federal officials on Tuesday announced the federal indictment against the five former Memphis Police Department officers involved in Tyre Nichols’ death.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee held a press conference Tuesday, Aug. 12, in the Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building, 167 N. Main St., to announce the indictment.

Five former officers in Tyre Nichols case federally indicted

“Almost eight months ago, I stood at this podium to announce that our office, together with the (U.S.) Civil Rights Division, opened a criminal civil rights investigation into the circumstances leading to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols,” Ritz said.

During that announcement in January, Ritz said the investigation, which led to the indictment, would be thorough and methodical.

“I also made a point to say that we care deeply about potential violations of constitutional rights here in my hometown, and I told the citizens of Memphis that I want the city to be a place where justice is done,” Ritz said. “To do justice, we must ensure that everyone’s civil rights are protected.”

The indictment that was filed Tuesday, Sept. 12, shows there are charges for two counts of depriving civil rights and two counts of tampering with a witness, victim or an informant for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. 

The indictment lists the two counts of deprivation of rights for excessive force, failure to intervene and deliberate indifference. The other two counts are for conspiracy to witness tamper and obstruction of justice for witness tampering.

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Counts one and two of the indictment carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. Counts three and four each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

“As Americans, our Constitution gives us certain basic rights when we interact with law enforcement officers,” Clarke said. “We have a right to be free from unreasonable force, a right to have other officers intervene to stop the unlawful assault and a right when in police custody to have urgent medical needs appropriately addressed and not met with deliberate indifference.”

Clarke added that the DOJ’s priority is to protect peoples’ constitutional rights and ensure effective policing in communities.

“Effective policing requires public trust,” Clarke said.“We all know that police officers have challenging jobs and that most officers carry out their jobs with honesty, dedication and integrity. But when some officers violate the Constitution, when they use excessive force, when they ignore serious injuries inflicted on people ... their actions erode the public’s trust.”

Clarke said she sat down earlier Tuesday with Nichols’ mother and stepfather and expressed her condolences to them. 

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“No one in this country should have to bury a loved one because of police violence,” Clarke said.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release sent out before the press conference: “The country watched in horror as Tyre Nichols was kicked, punched, tased, and pepper sprayed, and we all heard Mr. Nichols cry out for his mother and say ‘I’m just trying to go home.’”

Since January 2021, the DOJ has brought prosecutions of more than 100 alleged violations of constitutional and legal rights against law enforcement officials, Clarke said. 

In that same period, the DOJ has obtained more than 86 convictions. 

“We will never stop working to fulfill our duty to protect Americans from unlawful acts of police violence,” Clarke said. “We will work to hold offenders accountable because in our country, no one is above the law.

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The defendants are expected to appear in court “in the coming days,” Ritz said. 

The case is separate from the pattern-or-practice investigation announced by the DOJ on July 27. 

The indictment comes as the five former officers work through a federal civil suit and state criminal case for their involvement in Nichols’ death.

State charges were filed Jan. 26 against the five officers, who have all been charged with second-degree murder, acting in concert of aggravated assault, two aggravated kidnapping charges, two official misconduct charges and official oppression.

The federal charges are in addition to those state criminal charges.

DOJ announces pattern and practice investigation into MPD

Blake Ballin, Mills' attorney, said the federal indictment was expected.

”As in the state case, Mr. Mills maintains his innocence,” Ballin said in a statement. “He will turn himself in on the federal indictment and continue to defend himself against all allegations in both the state and federal court systems.”

Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Nichols’ family in the federal civil suit, responded to the indictment in a press conference Tuesday evening alongside Nichols’ mother and stepfather and local activists at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.

“We hope today will send a chilling effect for police officers that not only are you going to be under review by the state but Merrick Garland and the Biden administration have set a precedent that they are going to defend the civil rights of all Americans whether you wear a badge or not,” Crump said. 

RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, said that she was surprised the indictment came so quickly and thanked those involved for making them happen.

How much of Tyre Nichols’ death is on C.J. Davis? A federal judge will decide.

“He was a free spirit, and he should be here today but because of those five police officers, he is not,” she said of Nichols.

“But if my son had to leave this earth, I’m hoping it was for the greater good,” she added.

Crump also spoke to the civil case against the officers, suggesting that the federal criminal indictment might not necessarily slow those proceedings.

“I can’t fathom how this [the indictment] helps anyone. This is a case in criminal court. It is a plea, guilty, that is going to trial. Unless the city steps up and does right by Tyre Nichols’ family, it is going to trial. I don’t think it gets better for them as time passes,” Crump said. 

He also called the city’s arguments to dismiss the civil case “not well founded.”

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He said that the family has all the “objective evidence in the world” that what the officers did was part of a “pattern and practice” of behavior and that they were instructed in the kind of behavior they engaged in when they allegedly killed Nichols.

“We feel very confident in our civil case that there will be accountability for Tyre Nichols’ family,” he said.