3 Officers Are Left To Face Trial After Beating Tyre Nichols. Here Is What We Know.

The federal trial over the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after law enforcement officers beat him following a traffic stop in January 2023, begins Monday in Memphis.

Former Memphis Police Department officers Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and Demetrius Haley could face life in prison if convicted on federal civil rights and conspiracy charges. In the lead-up to the trial, two other officers, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the incident. Mills faces a 15-year sentence , while prosecutors are seeking up to 40 years for Martin .

Bean, Smith, Haley and Martin all face several state-level charges as well, including second-degree murder. Mills agreed to plead guilty to state-level charges last year.

Jury selection begins Monday. RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, Nichols’ parents, told HuffPost they plan to be in the courtroom when opening arguments begin, and that the approach to the trial has been challenging for their family. They said they set up a call to share a prayer with a local pastor on Sunday evening.

“We have been dealing with this since it happened. The community of Memphis has been very gracious to us. We have been able to go out and do things like normal, but as things get closer — we started to stay in more because the feelings and everything else are about to pop back up and resurface,” RowVaughn Wells said.

Nichols was sitting in his car at a traffic light when Memphis police cars surrounded him and demanded he get out of the vehicle without indicating what he was being stopped for, according to body-worn camera footage. Police initially said they had pulled Nichols over for reckless driving, but Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis later