Today (Nov. 2), the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office announced that former Memphis police officer Desmond Mills pleaded guilty to federal charges in the death of Tyre Nichols. According to WREG, he’s also agreed to plead guilty to state charges and cooperate with ongoing investigations. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 15 years.
As REVOLT previously reported, Mills was indicted alongside Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, and Justin Smith in connection with the beating and death of Nichols back in January. In video footage released to the public, the aforementioned authorities could be seen brutally beating the 29-year-old following a traffic stop. An autopsy report described multiple brain injuries, contusions, cuts, and bruises on his head and other body parts. Nichols’ death was declared a homicide as a result of blunt force trauma.
“The country watched in horror as Mr. Nichols was kicked, punched, tased, and pepper sprayed,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland during a federal court hearing in September. “We all heard Mr. Nichols cry out for his mother and say, ‘I’m just trying to go home.'”
“Desmond Mills’ plea today is entirely consistent with our allegations in the civil lawsuit against the City of Memphis,” said attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci in a statement posted on Instagram. “We stand strong in our belief that these officers, including Mills, acted at the direction of a policy that not only violated civil rights of innocent civilians but which caused needless pain to many.”
Said statement continued by accusing both the Memphis Police Department and its SCORPION unit of directing and training their officers to commit acts of violence against citizens. “We vigorously restate our assertion that those policies were behind what ultimately caused Mills and four other SCORPION officers to kill Tyre Nichols. Mills was not an individual actor, and as our civil suit continues to unfold, that will become even more apparent.”