Two of the former Memphis police officers accused in the beating death of Tyre Nichols earlier this year have filed motions to be tried separately from the rest of their co-defendants.

Lawyers for Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith filed the motions on June 21.

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Martin Zummach, Smith’s lawyer, filed the motion to sever specifically to get Smith separated from the rest of the officers. 

John Keith Perry, Bean’s lawyer, filed the motion on behalf of Bean but argued that all of the officers should be split up in their cases.

Bean, Smith and three other former officers — Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills and Demetrius Haley — have been charged with second-degree murder, acting in concert of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and official oppression for their alleged role in Nichols’ death.

Arguments from the two lawyers in both motions center around the idea that although all five officers have been charged in Nichols’ death, not all five were present during both interactions Nichols had with the officers the night he was beaten and that some did more to contribute to his death than others.

They also center on the complexity of the case, including the number of charges, number of defendants and their status as police officers when they beat Nichols.

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“When a case is being tried with multiple defendants who have been charged with multiple offenses, the sheer volume of evidence, along with the arguments for and against each piece of evidence, could potentially be a source of confusion,” Perry wrote.

Perry argues Bean was out on another call with Mills when they received the call that Nichols was fleeing from officers.

Nichols died on Jan. 10, three days after being beaten by the officers. 

The officers initially pulled Nichols over during a traffic stop, which resulted in an altercation between them.

Nichols eventually fled during the altercation but was later apprehended again and beaten.

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After Bean and Mills reached the scene where the other officers had caught up with Nichols, Perry argues that Bean’s use of force in helping them to arrest Nichols did not violate Memphis Police Department’s use of force standards. 

But lumping him in with other officers who may have used inappropriate force is unfair, Perry argues. 

Furthermore, Perry argues that had Bean let go of Nichols and tried to stop the other officers from beating him, it would have put their safety at risk as well as his own.

“Officer Bean’s duty to intervene does not supersede his duty to protect himself from physical injury,” he wrote.

Perry also argues that Bean showed concern for Nichols by checking on him and giving him water after he was arrested.

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Perry goes on to say that keeping the officers together could create complications because each has their own self-interest in mind in their own cases. Therefore, any statements that are made or evidence presented by one officer could be helpful to them but prejudicial to another. 

“The only way to ensure that each defendant has the right to a fair trial, in front of an impartial jury of their peers is to grant severance for the defendants with considerations regarding the alleged involvement of each codefendant,” Perry wrote.

Zummach similarly focuses on how Smith was allegedly not at the first interaction with Nichols, only the second, and therefore, he should be split from the officers that were at both scenes.

He also focuses on the level of force used by each officer that ultimately contributed to Nichols’ death.

“Additionally, there will be complex medical proof regarding the medical causation of the death of Mr. Nichols, and what instrumentality or actions brought about the demise of Mr. Nichols all of which are markedly different for each respective defendant,” he wrote.

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An autopsy report from the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center released last month stated that Nichols died from blunt force injuries to the head. The report listed his death as a homicide.

If a severance is not granted, Zummach requested that at least evidence from the first interaction with Nichols not be considered in his trial.

Perry asked for a severance of some kind if the motion to split the officers up was not granted.

“If the Court believes that severance should not be by individual officers, the Court can and should make the severance by what it deems as even possibly sustainable against the individual defendants as a matter of law,” he wrote.