Five former Memphis police officers have denied murdering Tyre Nichols, 29, who died three days after a violent arrest.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, official oppression, and two counts of official misconduct during their first court appearances on Friday.
The video images included body camera and surveillance footage published last week showed them aggressively pulling Nichols from his car and beating him on Jan. 7. Nichols was a FedEx staff, who died in a hospital three days later.
These five officers each might face 15 to 60 years in prison if convicted on second-degree murder charges. They are expected to return to court on May 1.
The officers were fired after an internal police investigation into the January 7 arrest of Nichols, who died three days later.
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