Tyre Nichols: No sign of team defence as ex-police officers appear in court accused of murder
It looked painful, physically.
RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, winced as the men accused of her son’s murder made their courtroom exit.
The trigger was the media’s question to Emmitt Martin III about the police chief’s assessment of how he and his colleagues had acted.
She had called them “inhumane”.
Martin and fellow ex-Memphis police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, and Justin Smith pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression in their first court appearance before a judge on Friday.
Clockwise from top left: Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith have been sacked
They were fired after an internal police investigation into the arrest of Mr Nichols, 29, in January.
He died in hospital three days later, having been punched, kicked and hit with a baton as he shouted for his mother.
Tyre Nichols
‘Didn’t have courage to look me in the face’
The adjectives in this story would torture any parent, and Mr Nichol’s mother visibly tightened as she heard the description, once more, of her son’s fatal beating.
The occasion that brought together the central characters in this tale was never going to be easy for a family.
They sat 10 yards from the accused as defence attorneys took it in turn to lodge pleas of “not guilty”.
At a news conference afterwards, RowVaughn Wells said they “didn’t have the courage to look me in the face”.
She said she would give them the opportunity at every court hearing to follow.
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Tyre Nichols’ mother: ‘I feel numb’
Being present – it isn’t much, but it’s as much as a mother can do in the circumstances.
The accused made no comment as they came and went. We did get a sense, however, of how the defence case will shape up when different attorneys gave impromptu news conferences outside the courtroom.
One, representing Tadarrius Bean, spoke of how he “never touched him or strike him in any way”.
It was no team defence.
This Scorpion Unit might have been a tight unit patrolling the streets of Memphis, but in negotiating their way out of a murder charge, it will be every man for himself.
Elon Musk has stepped up his attacks on Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill – weeks after a spectacular fallout between the world’s richest man and the US president.
Following weeks of relative silence after clashing with Mr Trump over his “big beautiful bill”, the billionaire vowed to unseat politicians who support it.
In a post on X, Musk said those who had campaigned on cutting spending but then backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame”.
He added: “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Musk also threatened to put their faces on a poster which said “liar” and “voted to increase America’s debt” by $5trn (£3.6trn).
The posts attracted a swift reply from Mr Trump, who claimed the billionaire “may get more subsidy than any human being in history” for his electric car business.
“Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
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Elon’s dad on the Musk-Trump bust-up
Musk spent at least $250m (£182m) supporting Mr Trump in his presidential campaign and then led the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sacked about 120,000 federal employees.
He has argued the legislation would greatly increase the US national debt and wipe out the savings he claimed he achieved through DOGE.
As the Senate discussed the package, Musk called it “utterly insane and destructive”.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the bill’s massive spending indicated “we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”
“Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” he wrote.
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Musk previously said some of his social media posts during his dramatic fallout with Mr Trump “went too far”.
He had shared a series of posts on X, including one that described Mr Trump’s tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.
He also claimed, in a since-deleted post, that the president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
But Musk later wrote: “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
In response, the president told the New York Post: “I thought it was very nice that he did that.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting Donald Trump next Monday, according to US officials.
The visit on 7 July comes after Mr Trump suggested it was possible a ceasefire in Gaza could be reached within a week.
On Sunday, he wrote on social media: “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!”
At least 60 people killed across Gaza on Monday, in what turned out to be some of the heaviest attacks in weeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with Donald Trump during a previous meeting. Pic: Reuters
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, 56,500 people have been killed in the 20-month war.
The visit by Mr Netanyahu to Washington has not been formally announced and the officials who said it would be going ahead spoke on condition of anonymity.
An Israeli official in Washington also confirmed the meeting next Monday.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration was in constant communication with the Israeli government.
She said Mr Trump viewed ending the war in Gaza and returning remaining hostages held by Hamas as a top priority.
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The war in Gaza broke out in retaliation for Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw a further 250 taken hostage.
An eight-week ceasefire was reached in the final days of Joe Biden’s US presidency, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.
Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled over whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire.
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