A second former Memphis police officer facing federal civil rights charges in the violent arrest and beating death of Tyre Nichols changed his plea to guilty on Friday in federal court.
Emmitt Martin III joined his former colleague Desmond Mills, who also changed his plea to guilty last November, as part of a settlement to both state and federal charges he faced for his role in Nichols’ death.
The change comes after Martin had previously pleaded not guilty.
Mills and Martin are among five former officers charged in the death of Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man. Martin was facing federal charges of deprivation of rights, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Three other former officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, are still awaiting trial.
It’s unclear if Martin intends to change his plea in his state case, where he is currently facing a second-degree murder charge.
CNN reached out to Martin’s attorney multiple times for comment.
The former officer pleaded guilty to “Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law: Excessive Force and Failure to Intervene” as well as “Conspiracy to Witness-Tamper,” according to a plea agreement filed in court Friday. He admitted he “willfully used unreasonable force against Tyre Nichols,” “aided and abetted” other officers in assaulting Nichols and “failed to intervene” in other officers’ use of force. He also admitted to conspiring with other officers to “cover up their use of unreasonable force on Nichols,” the plea agreement said.
The plea deal stipulates a recommended sentence of up to 40 years according to a document filed in court Friday. The maximum recommended sentence is significantly longer than the 15-year maximum recommended in Mills’ case, though the decision in both cases will ultimately be up to the judge.
“Today was very emotional, to hear another police officer plead guilty in my son’s murder,” RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, said after Martin’s court appearance.
“One of my kids is gone now because of the Memphis Police Department,” she said tearfully. “Tyre was minding his own business. And he was just coming home.”
She added that Martin’s guilty plea was “going in the right direction.”
“I’m hoping that after today, the other three officers will see and look at themselves and say that they’re guilty,” she went on. “Because they know that they are.”
“I’m grateful that he did plead guilty, but it doesn’t help my pain,” Wells said. “No, I will never have my son back. I will never hear his voice again.”
Ben Crump, one of the attorneys representing Nichols’ family in their $550 million lawsuit in federal court against the city of Memphis, its police department and what the suit said were “unqualified, untrained, and unsupervised” officers, also said he hoped the other officers involved plead guilty.
“The dominoes are falling, and the dominoes won’t stop with just these officers,” he said. “The blood is not only on the hands of these officers, the blood is on the hands of the Memphis Police Department.”
Rodney Wells, Nichols’ father, called for Martin to receive the maximum recommended sentence of 40 years. “If we get 40 years, we’ll be happy,” he said, comparing the sentence to former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s 21-year sentence in the death of George Floyd.
“This is not something we ever take for granted – that police officers will be held accountable and sentenced to real prison time for killing Black people in America,” Crump added. “Normally, we see a slap on the wrist.”
“When you look at how they beat him to death, the sentence should be significant too,” he said.
Crump also called attention to the SCORPION unit, a controversial specialized unit launched in 2021 to take on violent crime in Memphis. All five officers charged in Nichols’ death belonged to the unit. Police said the unit was permanently deactivated shortly after Nichols’ death.
“These SCORPION officers were prowling the streets looking to make unconstitutional stops,” he said.
In a Friday statement, the Shelby County District Attorney’s office described the guilty plea as “another important step toward closure for the family of Tyre Nichols.” “While today’s development is significant, there is still more work to be done,” reads the statement. “The public deserves confidence that those responsible for enforcing the law will be held accountable for excessive force.”
The district attorney’s office added it expects Martin will enter a similar plea in state court.
The family of Tyre Nichols has filed a federal $550 million lawsuit against the city of Memphis, its police department and what the suit said were “unqualified, untrained, and unsupervised” officers.
Nichols died in January 2023, three days after the five police officers repeatedly kicked and punched him following a traffic stop and brief foot chase. The officers then left him slumped against a car for critical minutes, video of the incident shows. Autopsy results revealed he died from blunt force trauma to the head and his death was ruled a homicide.
The beating and Nichols’ death led to protests and vigils in Memphis and other major US cities, reigniting the contentious debate over policing and the ways that law enforcement treat Black people.
