MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An out-of-town jury is being selected as the ex-officers accused in the beating death of Tyre Nichols are set to go to trial Monday.
Jury selection began on Wednesday across the state in Chattanooga at a courthouse in Hamilton County.
Attorneys, alongside two of the three former officers, Taddarius Bean and Justin Smith, are all there now.
Shelby County Sheriff deputies also made the trip east. The deputies were seen guarding the jury assembly room.
The three officers are facing state charges of second-degree murder.
Late last month, a judge granted a motion for a change of venue. The trial will still be held here in Memphis, but the jury will be brought in from Chattanooga.
The motion claims that pretrial publicity has “infected potential jurors within the county.”
Nichols’ mother, Rowvaughn Wells, has been vocal throughout the federal trial and hopes this upcoming state trial will bring them some justice.
“We’re still waiting for the state trial to see how that’s going to come about, and hopefully, they’ll get more time from that. And then, we can just move on and heal because we really just want to heal right now,” Wells said.
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. WREG’s April Thompson will have gavel-to-gavel coverage.