Marvelous analyst on significance of officers getting identical prices in Nichols case

You heard in the press conference we're talking about the Scorpion unit. But I want to discuss that. But I want to just get your overall impressions of what happened at this press conference. The charges and what led to, you know, the beating death of this.

Young man. Well, a remarkable press conference. You can tell where everybody's you know, a state of logic and emotion is on this. You heard David Rausch, the director of the TBI, as Shimon alluded to, not only said he was appalled, but.

Almost sidestepped into a benediction in the middle of his comments, giving a blessing to the family for their suffering and offering them God's help. You don't usually see that in the normally somewhat defensive posture of law enforcement agencies.

Investigating other law enforcement agencies. So, you know, we take that as another sign of what we see coming. We did learn new details, which is that there was a traffic stop They didn't say what exactly the stop was for,.

Although the police said in their initial statement reckless driving, that there was a confrontation with Terry Nichols at the traffic stop that resulted in him being pepper sprayed. I believe that's the first time.

We've heard that. That he then fled on foot. And what we learned from the police radio tapes that we heard today, Don, was that one of the officers from the Scorpion unit gets on the air and says,.

What is the address? This car is registered to? And it's a it's a couple of blocks this way and a couple of blocks that way. And they put the address over the radio. So they shifted their search to see if the suspect was running home. And that's.

Where they encountered Terry Nichols for the second confrontation, which results in this long, protracted beating My understanding from police sources is that some of that occurred after he was in handcuffs, which exacerbates the situation. You've got this team.

A couple of them have body cameras, a couple of them do not. And then there's a pole camera or what they refer to as the sky camera in Memphis that is owned by the police department that records the rest of this from above. So I believe what authorities are doing today is bringing in some justice and.

And buying some time before they release that video. Sara and I both noticed that they said there was a pool camera, a sky camera and then and body camera. So is there a difference? What's the difference between the camera and the sky camera?.

Is that a helicopter? Is that a drone with the same thing that the sky camera is the is the name they give to the cameras that they've put on on poles around Memphis? And then the Scorpion unit. So the Scorpion unit was started.

On December 1220, 21 in response to a spate of shootings and violence gunfire, carjackings, car thefts in Memphis. They put together 50 police officers, put them in plain clothes with bulletproof vests that said police on them, unmarked cars.

That did not look like unmarked cars, necessarily a pickup truck, a Dodge Challenger or a charger and sent them out to crime hotspots to engage within their first three weeks. They were lauded for picking up 338 arrests that's a very aggressive posture in three weeks.

For 50 police officers. 195 of those were felonies. 95 of those involved weapons. And they were being touted as this is an elite crime fighting unit. That's part of the organized crime section. And then you have this, which raises the question.

Why were officers who had two and three years of experience the most? Six years was the the most with the most time on. For those officers not that experienced, when you consider that those might be ten or 12 or 15 year veterans.

That go into the specialized units in a unit that was out there in this mission. And without a supervisor, you yeah. It's a question just for you because you're talking about the Scorpion unit. We'll talk to someone who.

Came into contact, if you will, with the Scorpion unit who said that he was scared out of his mind because the cars were unmarked. They all came up, a large group. But something that happened during the dispatch audio sparked my my attention.

And I'm curious what you think about hearing the dispatch audio where you just mentioned. They said, let's check the place, see where he lives. If you think a car is stolen, if you think someone has done something.

That's potentially dangerous for the officers, would you not have already run that were on the tags when you pulled up in the first place? Would you not have time to just run the tags? That's usually what they do. When I've been pulled over.

Before, I didn't speak in the press conference to the nature of the stop. That's a very good question. So, I mean, on the stop, you might put the tag over as you're putting yourself out on the stop. And that would run the tag for wants or warrants.

Is it a wanted felony or a fugitive without getting into the registered owner when he comes back on the radio? And we're not certain that that actually happened, that they ran it in the stop, but when he comes, he specifically asked for what's the address.

That that car comes back to. So, Sara, to your point, at that point, he's operating on the information that it's not stolen, that it's the driver's car, and they're going to go to that address and start looking for him, which is exactly what they did.

They found him 80 yards from home. And that's the second confrontation where they ended up beating him to the extent that it causes his death days later, Yeah. I want to bring in Joey Jackson now, and if we can.

Put up the the names of the officers on the screen, because I think it's important to point out who exactly is being charged here. Justin Smith is one of the officers, Emmett Martin, the third, Desmond Mills, Demetrius Haly into Darius being Joey. The charges second degree murder,.

Aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnaping, two charges of official misconduct, one charge of official oppression. And that is now official. That was earlier, according to the Shelby County Criminal Courts Court records.

Now it's official, according to the Shelby County District Attorney these are very serious charges. What do they carry? What are they facing here? Yeah. So a few things that are very significant, Don Sara,.

The first of which is they charge this after evaluating the video and making a determination that all of them should be charged with the same thing. Why is that relevant? It's relevant because defense attorneys.

Commonly argue that mere presence is not enough, and that's the law in the event that you're simply there but not engaging in anything to further the course of conduct, it doesn't constitute a crime. Why is that significant? It's significant.

Because it then would demonstrate that upon an evaluation of that videotape, that all of those parties charge were active participants with respect to the underlying crime. That is very important because it also goes to the issue as to whether or not they acted.

They didn't act. They had a duty to intervene. They didn't do that. So we could only without having seen the videotape, imagine the signify actions of five officers engaging in this level of just, you know, oppression of an individual.

Whose now is no longer with us due to the conduct to your question. When you look at the first charge, Don, as it relates to the murder, I'm sure a lot of people are wondering first degree, second degree, what's the distinction? There's two distinctions. The first distinction.

Is the distinction in terms of the level of intent. If you charge first degree murder, the prosecutor then has to demonstrate you acted with premeditation. Second degree murder. On the other hand, you simply have to demonstrate.

That it was a knowing killing, as you heard the prosecutor say. What does that mean? It means that you have to appreciate and know that the nature of your conduct couldn't cause a death. And so the prosecution will argue that you can't tell me.

In looking at the video prosecution, I'm sure, will say as a result of your conduct, that you could not appreciate that someone might die as a result. Very important. Right now, you look to the punish ment. If it were a first degree murder charge, it's.

A life or life without parole, second degree murder charge. You're looking at 15 to 60 years under the Tennessee statutes and then of course, is the prosecutor spoke down to the other charges relating to the not only assault but the aggravated nature of the prosecutor himself.

Saying, hey, you know what that means. And so we can all anticipate that what we're going to see is pretty grim on the video. And of course, when it talks to the issue of kidnaping, yes, officers may stop and detain you, Don. Sarah, under the appropriate.

Set of circumstances, did you have reasonable suspicion? Did you have probable cause? Right. We'll find out. Whether the stop itself was legitimate. But even if the stop is legitimate, there comes a point based upon your conduct where you could exceed that legitimacy.

By detaining someone unlawfully against their will. And so these charges very significant, very important, and can land all of these officers in jail, essentially, if it's 15 to 60 years for the rest of their natural lives.

Sharing is caring!