Just days after the controversial acquittal of three former Memphis, Tennessee, police officers in the death of Tyre Nichols, his family is condemning the “wanted” posters showing the men involved in his brutal beating that are appearing across the city.

Since the verdict, the family has been “made aware of posters in public places around Memphis that seem to call for vigilante justice against those three officers,” Ben Crump, a Nichols family attorney, said in a statement earlier this week. 

The family and legal team do not know who is responsible for the posters and do not condone this type of call for justice, he said. 

The family was devastated by the May 7 verdict, calling it a “miscarriage of justice” in a statement last week.

“The world watched as Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by those sworn to protect and serve. That brutal, inhumane assault was captured on video, yet the officers responsible were acquitted,” Crump wrote on the family’s behalf in last week’s statement.

The nine-day state trial, which was also livestreamed, included emotional testimony from Nichols’ grieving mother, RowVaughn Wells, who said she didn’t learn about her son’s encounter with Memphis police officers until his death. A chief medical examiner also testified, describing Nichols’ body as covered in cuts and bruises, with severe brain injuries.

“He never made it home to enjoy my sesame chicken,” Wells said of the night of Jan. 7, 2023.

Following a day of deliberations, the all-white jury consisting of four men and eight women found Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith not guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated assault, as well as two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct, and one count of official oppression. 

The state trial followed their federal convictions last year for witness tampering, and acquittals on civil rights charges that carried potential life sentences. Bean, 26, Haley, 32, and Smith, 30, face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Two other officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., also have been charged but will not stand trial, according to multiple media reports. Martin and Mills are expected to plead guilty in state court after making a deal with prosecutors to testify against their former co-workers in exchange for a lighter sentence, lawyers involved in the case told the Associated Press. 

All five officers are expected to be sentenced on the federal charges the week of June 16. 

In 2023, the five Black former police officers were indicted in federal court after the traffic stop that resulted in the fatal beating of Nichols. Minutes of the deadly assault were captured on police body and surveillance cameras that were shown to jurors throughout the trial. 

Nichols cried out for his mother as the officers repeatedly kicked, used a baton and Tasers, and pepper sprayed him. He was hospitalized for three days before he died from his injuries.

The 29-year-old father’s death sparked mass protests in Memphis and nationwide in 2023, as he became another Black motorist killed by police during a traffic stop. Public outcry and renewed calls for police reform echoed those following George Floyd’s murder in 2020 — yet nearly five years and hundreds of fatal police encounters later, federal legislation to hold law enforcement officers accountable for misconduct has stalled.

As in other recent police brutality trials, defense attorneys for the three officers attempted to shift blame for Nichols’ death onto Nichols himself, presenting witnesses and evidence suggesting that the harm caused by the five former officers was the result of his own actions.

Jane Turner, a forensic pathologist called by Haley’s attorney, noted that Nichols had other contributing factors to his death — such as rhabdomyolysis (the breakdown of muscle tissue) and kidney disease — but conceded that he would not have died if he had not sustained the brain injury. Marco Ross, chief medical examiner for the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center and a prosecution witness, said Nichols’ injuries were consistent with those seen in car accidents. 

Regardless of last year’s federal verdict, Nichols’ family and supporters said they remained committed to seeking justice as Shelby County prosecutors presented their case to a jury selected from another county.

“Further, we want to address the ongoing speculation that any result in the ongoing civil litigation could bankrupt the City of Memphis,” Crump wrote in this week’s statement. 

“Anyone who is speculating that the civil case could bankrupt the city is engaging in fearmongering and distorting the public conversation away from the real issue, the patterns and practices of the Memphis Police Department that led to Tyre’s tragic and wholly unnecessary death,” Crump wrote.

Crump represents the Nichols family in a $550 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Memphis. Last month, the presiding judge approved a request for both sides to begin settlement negotiations.

To ensure a fair and impartial jury, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. granted a defense motion to select jurors from outside Memphis. The jury, drawn from Hamilton County over 300 miles away, were sequestered for the duration of the trial, according to Action News 5. They were able to meet on a Saturday to wrap up the defenses’ case. 

Nichols, a FedEx employee, was initially accused of reckless driving  — a claim later found to be unsubstantiated — during what prosecutors have called a pretextual traffic stop, according to CNN reporting from January 2024.  

Bean’s attorney John Keith Perry said during his opening statements that Nichols was “resisting arrest the whole time” and that the officers “wanted to do their job effectively,” the AP reported.

The five officers were members of a now-disbanded crime suppression team known as the SCORPION Unit. They were all fired from the Memphis Police Department.

Martin, 33, and Mills, 35, testified against their former colleagues during their federal trial in September 2024 and did the same in their state case. Martin’s mental health came into question during both trials, to which Mills testified that he wasn’t aware that Martin was feeling “homicidal” before work that fateful day. 

Mills pleaded guilty to federal and state charges in exchange for 15 years in prison — the judge will have a final say on his sentencing agreement, prosecutors said. Martin has pleaded not guilty to the state charges. 

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said after court on Wednesday that his office respects the verdict despite not being happy with it.