Judge orders new trials for three Memphis officers over bias concerns

A federal judge on Thursday ordered new trials for three former Memphis police officers convicted last year on federal charges tied to the 2023 beating and death of Tyre Nichols, citing concerns that comments by the judge who presided over the trial created the appearance of judicial bias. U.S. Chief District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman vacated the convictions and directed that the cases of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith be retried after finding an unconstitutional risk of perceived bias stemming from remarks attributed to U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris following the jury verdict.

Lipman said in her order that while a review showed Norris made rulings during the trial that were sound, fair and grounded in law, his posttrial statements created a probability of bias that could not be constitutionally tolerated. According to court filings and a notice from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the remarks were made after one of Norris’s law clerks was shot during an apparent carjacking days after the federal jury convicted the three men in October 2024. The filings say Norris told federal prosecutors and an FBI agent that he believed at least one of the defendants was in a...