Second ex-US police officer pleads guilty in death of Tyre Nichols
Al Jazeera
Emmitt Martin is one of five fired officers charged over the fatal beating in 2023 that renewed calls for police reform.
A second former Memphis police officer has pleaded guilty 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 pleaded guilty to two of four federal counts against him – one for depriving Nichols’s civil rights and another for witness tampering – according to his plea agreement filed in a US district court in the state of Tennessee on Friday.
Sentencing has been set for December 5.
Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, who was in the courtroom on Friday, said the hearing was “very emotional” and “bittersweet”.
The latest plea was a step in the right direction, she said, but added that she will not be content until all of the officers are brought to justice. “Tyre was just coming home. He was just minding his own business,” Wells said.
