Tyre Nichols state criminal trial put on hold until federal trial finishes, attorney says

The state criminal trial for the officers charged with the death of Tyre Nichols has been indefinitely put on hold until the federal case finishes, Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman said Friday morning.

Judge James Jones Jr. signed a court order granting a motion filed Thursday by defense attorneys for former Memphis police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith. Hagerman said the motion had a solid legal basis.

"It was something that had been talked about before the motion was filed, asking for a continuance of the state court trial date, because the federal trial was reset recently until September," Hagerman told media outside the courtroom Friday. "...We agree that there are legal reasons, with regard to efficiency and expediency and things like that, that make sense for the trial in federal court to occur first."

The motion was unopposed by the Shelby County District Attorney's Office, but Hagerman said there is a limit to how long the office is willing to push the case down the road.

More: Newly-released Tyre Nichols documents show discrepancies between statements, bodycam footage

"We've been in this court, though, for an extra seven or eight months as opposed to federal courts. That's why I say there's a limit to our patience," Hagerman said. "This court is ready to try the case. We're ready to try this case. We acknowledge that there are good legal reasons for the federal trial to go first. The family [of Tyre Nichols] knows those reasons, understands those reasons and is on board with us. We're trying to do what's right in terms of getting this thing to a conclusion sooner rather than later. But, like I said, everybody's patience, I think, has limits and we may be back here asking for state trial first."

Should the federal case be pushed back again, Hagerman said the DA's office would ask for the judge to set the state case ahead of the federal case. He said prosecutors could be ready within a few weeks of the federal case being reset, but a solid timeline does not yet exist for when that date would be due to defense attorney schedules.

During a Feb. 8 federal court date, Judge Mark S. Norris pushed back the trial date to Sept. 9 after defense attorneys said they needed more time to prepare for trial and look over the discovery that had been handed over by the U.S. Attorney's Office. That federal trial is expected to last about three weeks.

Five officers have been charged at the federal and state level, but one officer, Desmond Mills Jr, entered a guilty plea in both federal and state court on Nov. 2.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901) 208-3922 and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why Tyre Nichols state trial was put on hold until federal case ends