MEMPHIS, Tenn. — More than a week after three former Memphis Police officers were found not guilty on state charges in the death of Tyre Nichols, the attorney of one of those officers is sitting down with WREG to discuss the jury’s final decision.

Attorney John Keith Perry represented Tadarrius Bean during the nine-day trial. Bean, Justin Smith, and Demetrius Haley were acquitted of all charges stemming from the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.

Perry says there is a reason he waited to speak out.

“It was a verdict that obviously was emotionally charged,” Perry said. “We thought it only fair to give time to the family to, you know, get their statements out or vent.”

But after a week, he agreed to speak with WREG, saying the verdicts were no surprise because of what happened in the federal trial last fall.

“We prevailed on three counts that are much easier for the federal government to have proved,” he said. “In that case, my client was found guilty of obstruction based on how you filled out his paperwork.”

Bean was found guilty of only one lesser federal charge, so Perry felt good going into the state trial. He also felt good because of the focus groups they had done and slowing down that infamous beating video.

“Showing the different movements of the various officers, as well as the efforts of the officers involved. And we isolated the efforts of Mr. Bean each time he was found not guilty on all of the counts,” Perry said.

He says they also put on a defense that prosecutors couldn’t counter: police training experts.

“These are experts. These are the experts, experts in this particular case. And also keep in mind this, while we had three true experts, the federal government was only able to tender a person who really was a defensive driving expert previously,” Perry said.

He said it made all the difference with the jury from Hamilton County. Perry says they chose that area because of fewer preconceived opinions on the case. They found rumors rampant here.

“There was a rumor, I guess, in the barbershops and beauty shops that this involved, some female. And the fact that Mr. Nichols was expected to have dated somebody or what have you, and that was debunked early on,” Perry said.

As for the jury being all white, Perry says Black people were in the jury pool, but they were struck for different reasons.

“We had another lady who said that she could be fair and impartial, except it was an economic burden that she had to a single mother and just couldn’t, couldn’t do it. So there were efforts to, you know, nobody was like, we’re going to funnel the African-American jurors away from this,” he said. “We had a jury that had black people who said they couldn’t be fair and impartial. If you say you can’t be fair and impartial, I don’t care what race, ethnicity, or national origin you might you might say that you’re part of.”

WREG asked Perry about Tadarrius Bean’s reaction to the verdict.

“Obviously, he was happy with the verdict,” He said. “So he feels like this, that he is married to that situation. But for the fact that he was doing his job the best that he could do, he would not have been in it.”

Bean, Smith, and Haley will be sentenced in the federal trial next month. Perry hopes these not guilty verdicts will carry some weight.

Perry says the three officers are also named in the civil trial, so attorneys are preparing for that.