A 2nd ex-Memphis officer pleads guilty in Tyre Nichols' death. He could serve 40 years in prison

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a prison sentence of no more than 40 years for a former Memphis police officer who pleaded guilty Friday to federal civil rights violations in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.

Emmitt Martin is the second former officer to plead guilty in the killing that sparked outrage and renewed calls for police reform. Three former officers still face trial in federal court next month, and two of their former colleagues could testify against them.

Martin entered his change of plea before U.S. District Judge Mark Norris in Memphis under an agreement with prosecutors, pleading guilty to excessive force and witness tampering charges. Sentencing is set for Dec. 5.

Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, was in the courtroom. She nodded her head and smiled when the judge accepted Martin's change of plea.

In a news conference with civil rights attorney Ben Crump after the hearing, Wells said it was “very emotional” and “bittersweet.” She said the latest plea is a step in the right direction, but that she won’t be content until all of the officers are brought to justice.

“Tyre was just coming home. He was just minding his own business,” she said.

Nichols died in a hospital on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after he was kicked, punched and hit with a police baton after a traffic stop. The officers said they pulled Nichols over because he was driving recklessly, but Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis has said no evidence was found to support that allegation.

Police video released Jan. 27 last year showed the officers beating Nichols as he yelled for his mother about a block away from the home they shared. Video also showed the officers milling about and talking with each other as Nichols struggled with his injuries.

An autopsy report showed Nichols died from blows to the head, and that the manner of death was homicide. The report described brain injuries, cuts and bruises to the head and other parts of the body.

“I will never have my son back. I will never hear his voice again,” Wells told reporters Friday. “They murdered my son for nothing. And until we get justice for all of them, I won’t be content.”

In November, former Memphis officer Desmond Mills Jr., reached a similar deal with federal prosecutors and changed his plea to guilty. Prosecutors agreed to recommend a prison sentence not to exceed 15 years for Mills.

Both Mills and Martin could be called to testify against the final three — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — who remain charged with federal civil rights violations and have pleaded not guilty. The judge set a Monday deadline for any plea agreements in the case. Attorneys for the other three officers attended the hearing but left early. Haley's attorney later declined to comment, while attorneys for the two others did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment Friday afternoon.

All five former officers accused in Nichols’ death have been charged separately in state court with second-degree murder. That trial is postponed until the federal proceedings are complete. Mills previously agreed to plead guilty in state court. Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy issued a statement on Friday saying he expects Martin to make a similar plea in state court at the appropriate time.

Nichols was a 29-year-old father from Sacramento, California. He worked at FedEx with his stepfather and enjoyed skateboarding and photography in his spare time. Nichols was Black.

The five accused ex-officers also are Black. They were fired after Nichols' killing for violating Memphis Police Department policies.

Martin, who was the second officer to come into contact with Nichols during the Jan. 7 traffic stop, helped Haley to force Nichols from his vehicle, according to documents filed in the case to permanently ban Martin from working in law enforcement in Tennessee.

Nichols ran from Martin and his two partners after they threatened and pepper-sprayed him but he was apprehended within six minutes. As other officers tried to handcuff Nichols, who was on the ground, Martin kicked him in the upper torso and punched him in the face while two other officers held Nichols’ arms, the documents show.

Martin's defense attorney, Stephen Ross Johnson, said after the hearing that Martin was “driven by anger” when he “violated Mr. Nichols’ civil rights and used excessive force,” but that he was "driven by fear when he later attempted to cover that up — fear of the consequences of what he had done."

“Today, we are all witnesses to Mr. Martin accepting responsibility for what he did,” Johnson said.

The criminal charges are separate from the U.S. Department of Justice’s “patterns and practices” investigation into how Memphis officers use force and conduct arrests, and whether the department in the majority-Black city engages in racially discriminatory policing.

The Justice Department also has announced a separate review concerning use of force, de-escalation strategies and specialized units within Memphis police.

Additionally, Nichols’ mother has filed a $550 million lawsuit against the city and its police chief.

After the hearing, Wells said she hopes the other three officers will also plead guilty so that she and her children do not have to go through a trial.

“I’m hoping that after today, that the other three officers will look in the mirror, and look at themselves, and say that they’re guilty, because they know they are,” she said.

Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.

Emmitt Martin III, a former Memphis Police Department officer leaves federal court after pleading guilty to civil rights violations in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Attorney Ben Crump speaks during a news conference after a former Memphis Police Department officer pleaded guilty to civil rights violations in the 2023 fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

RowVaughn Wells rests on her husband's shoulder Rodney Wells, the parents of Tyre Nichols, during a news conference after a former Memphis Police Department officer pleaded guilty to civil rights violations in the 2023 fatal beating of their son, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre Nichols, speaks during a news conference after a former Memphis Police Department officer pleaded guilty to civil rights violations in the 2023 fatal beating of her son, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

RowVaughn Wells, center and husband Rodney Wells, right, parents of Tyre Nichols walk into federal court with their attorney Ben Crump, left, to attend a plea hearing for one of the former Memphis Police Department officers accused of killing their son.Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Emmitt Martin III, a former Memphis Police Department officer, second from left, accused of killing Tyre Nichols, walks into federal court Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Emmitt Martin III, a former Memphis Police Department officer, second from left, accused of killing Tyre Nichols, walks into federal court Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Emmitt Martin III, a former Memphis Police Department officer, second from left, accused of killing Tyre Nichols, walks into federal court Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

FILE - Emmitt Martin III, a former Memphis Police Department officer accused of killing Tyre Nichols, walks into federal court with attorney in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 2024. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP, File)

Former Tennessee officer accused in Tyre Nichols' death to change plea ahead of trial

FILE - The screen at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans honors Tyre Nichols before an NBA basketball game, Jan. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton, File)

Former Tennessee officer accused in Tyre Nichols' death to change plea ahead of trial

GENEVA (AP) — Soccer great Zvonimir Boban says he does not want to be president of UEFA.

It needed “a real football man,” he suggested on Thursday, in a barb at technocrats who he claimed think they are bigger than the game.

The former Croatia and AC Milan player resigned as UEFA chief of football in January in protest at president Aleksander Čeferin moving to change legal statutes that would let him stay in office longer.

Čeferin later called Boban a clown and his allies suggested the dramatic exit was positioning to one day challenge for the presidency — a claim denied in an interview with Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport published on Thursday.

“I don’t have any interest. But a real football man in UEFA is really needed,” said Boban, who previously had a senior role at FIFA under its president Gianni Infantino. He left in 2019 to work for Milan.

“In that sense, I say it with bitterness, having fought for changes at UEFA, like FIFA before that, I was of no use for anything,” Boban said.

UEFA was approached for comment.

Čeferin and Infantino are both lawyers first elected in 2016 in fallout from turmoil at UEFA and FIFA during American and Swiss federal investigations of international soccer officials. Infantino was previously UEFA general secretary for more than six years.

“Unfortunately for years the soccer technocracy has been all the rage inside the system, depriving it of its values, which instead it should always represent and defend,” Boban told Gazzetta.

“These people think they’re more important than the game, than the players, than the coaches, than the fans and even the actual soccer institutions,” he said.

Boban joined UEFA in 2021 to be a senior advisor to Čeferin, who called his former advisor a clown in February at the UEFA Congress.

“I’m sorry about the way our relationship ended,” Boban said on Thursday, adding they had not spoken since.

Boban resigned in January citing his “total disapproval” of the legal move that would let Čeferin stay in office for 15 years through 2031.

UEFA has a 12-year term limit for its president among anti-corruption reforms passed in response to the criminal investigations that rocked international soccer bodies.

However, Čeferin steered through an amendment approved by UEFA member federations in February that would not count his first three years — technically completing the mandate of predecessor Michel Platini, who was removed from office — against his 12-year limit.

Within hours, Čeferin then pledged he will leave office in 2027 and not seek a final four-year mandate.

Some of UEFA's 55 member federations have since said they support their Slovenian leader staying on.

AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf in Rome contributed.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Cristiano Ronaldo, the all-time leading goalscorer in the Champions League, receives a special award from UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin in recognition of his achievements in the competition, during the Champions League, league phase, draw, in Monaco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Former Juventus and PSG Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon receives the 2024 UEFA President's Award from UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin during the Champions League, league phase, draw, in Monaco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

FILE - Zvonimir Bobanin Kazan, Russia, on Nov. 26, 2016. Former UEFA official Zvonimir Boban, has been talking Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 about why he resigned in January in a dispute with its president Aleksander Ceferin. He says he does not want to be UEFA president. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)