Robert Klemko

The Justice Department is arguing that the crimes constitute an act of terrorism under U.S. law, and that a stiff sentence will deter others from committing political violence.

How civil rights lawyer Jill Collen Jefferson convinced the Justice Department to investigate allegedly racist and abusive policing in tiny Lexington, Miss.

Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten after being stopped by police in Memphis last year. Two officers pleaded guilty to federal charges; three others face trial.

Defense lawyers say ex-Memphis officers acted according to their training when they pummeled Tyre Nichols. The prosecutor said they had no need to use force.

Former Memphis officer Emmitt Martin III testified that he and his fellow officers lied about the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols.

Residents of Lexington, Miss., were afraid at first to talk to Justice Dept. investigators about abusive policing. On Thursday night, they celebrated together.

By repeatedly playing video footage, sometimes in slow motion, lawyers tried to control the narrative of the police killing of Tyre Nichols, experts said.

Fatal beating of Tyre Nichols shown over and over at police trial

Body camera audio captured in the aftermath of the arrest of Tyre Nichols in Memphis showed officers laughing with one another as they recount the beating.

RowVaughn Wells talks about feeling helpless and frustrated during the trial of three former Memphis police officers accused of killing Tyre Nichols, her son.