outrage, anger and grief. tyre nichols repeatedly beaten, kicked, tased and pepper sprayed by the police. on video for the world to see. the family of the father, skateboarder and photographer calling for peace as people around the country take their emotions out onto the streets in protest. and there are new questions about how to break the political stalemate to achieve some kind of real police reform. five former memphis cops already charged with murder, two more have now been relieved of duty. and a doj investigation is underway. this morning, we have memphis community leaders, experts on policing and a member of congress joining this crucial conversation. thanks to you for joining us this morning, i m katie phang, this is special coverage of the leash of the tylee nichols video. right now, the world is washing and reacting to that footage showing five memphis police officers kicking, punching, just beating 29 year old nichols after what was supposed to be just a traffic
very real sandy hook mass massacre, calling it a fake. they today a texas jury ordered him to pay more than $4 million in damages to parents of six-year-old jesse lewis, one of the 20 young children and six teachers murdered in that shooting. jessie s parents wanted at least 150 million for defamation. this afternoon their lawyer said the next step in this case is the real name of the game. the jury just returned a verdict for damages exceeding $4 million. that s a darn good start. we now have the punishment phase. it s perfectly expect-able that we are going to see an over nine figure judgment against mr. jones. that punishment phase of the trial begins tomorrow. jurors have already heard about the damage done by alex jones s lies. i can t even describe last night i have nightmares of the living hell that i and others have had to endure because of the negligence and the recklessness of alex jones. jones may soon face even more legal jeopardy. yesterday the lawyer for
me. your reaction was one of horror, let s talk about the legal side of this. what s the significance of the timing of this doj investigation? in my opinion, it seems to be moving a lot faster than doj probes we ve seen maybe like in the george floyd case, and the ahmaud arbery case. i agree, katie. maybe that s a sign of the times. of taking these cases, i don t say more seriously, but making them a greater priority. in the past, it was typical for federal prosecutors to let state prosecutors go first, and as long as there was a conviction in that state court case, they would stand down and let that ride. but we see now, appropriately, is federal prosecutors getting involved right at the outset. and planning to go forward, even if the state charges. because there is a substantial federal interest. that is not indicated just because the state conviction. in the rodney king case was an example of when the feds got
alleged shooter relating to the motivation behind this. there are those factors that you mentioned. certainly, that s a good starting point under that statute. i think that s really key, right. you ve noted that you don t meet the threshold for a hate crime, successful prosecution. by just noting that someone is a member of a protected class, as all of these victims were, right? as we understand. but you need to show that they re motivated, as far as we know from the colorado springs police chief, the suspect hasn t made any statements despite repeated attempts. how do you do that in court, how do you win in court, if he doesn t talk? we re not talking just statements sworn to law enforcement. but any statements made to media. in you remember in the ahmaud arbery case there was quite a lot of evidence in the federal trial about the past statements. ahmaud arbery in georgia. any statements whatsoever, but any at all that could show