MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The federal criminal case against former Memphis police officers charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols has taken a shocking, unusual twist: Three of them are getting a new trial because a judge made comments after their convictions that raised questions of bias.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman ordered a new trial for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith. They were found guilty in October 2024 of obstruction of justice through witness tampering in the January 2023 beating of Nichols after he fled a traffic stop. Two other officers involved in the beating pleaded guilty and avoided trial.

Lipman wrote that U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris, who presided over the trial, raised “the risk of bias” when he commented in May that at lea

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