MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal prosecutors recommended a 40-year sentence for a former Memphis police officer who pleaded guilty Friday to federal civil rights violations in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. Emmitt Martin is the second former officer to plead guilty in the killing that sparked outrage and renewed calls for police reform.
Three former officers still face trial in federal court next month, and two of their former colleagues could testify against them. Martin entered his change of plea before U.S.
District Judge Mark Norris in Memphis under an agreement with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to excessive force and witness tampering charges. The judge had set a Monday deadline for any plea agreements in the case.
Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, was in the courtroom. She nodded her head and smiled when the judge accepted Martin's change of plea. In a news conference with civil rights attorney Ben Crump after the hearing, Wells said it was “very emotional” and “bittersweet.
” She said the latest plea is a step in the right direction, but that she won’t be content until all of the officers are brought to justice. “Tyre was just coming home. He was just minding his own business,” she said.
Nichols died in a hospital on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after he was kicked, punched and hit with a police baton after a traffic stop. The officers said they pulled Nichols over because he was driving recklessly, but Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis has said n.