Lawyers for two ex-officers accused in Tyre Nichols’ death rest their cases in federal trial

(WASHINGTON) — While Election Day is finally here, more than 83 million people have already cast their ballots.

Election Day was trending on the busy side, with roughly half of the 161.42 million registered voters still heading to the polls.

In Georgia, one of seven key swing states, long lines were forming outside polling stations, officials said, despite more than 4 million people in the Peach State having already voted.

In Fulton County, Georgia’s most populous county, which includes the city of Atlanta, nearly 30,000 people had cast their in-person ballots by 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, a little more than three-and-a-half hours after the polls opened at 7 a.m., said Nadine Williams, the Fulton County director of registration.

“All polling sites are secure with an active security presence,” said Williams, adding that the county had received five “non-credible” bomb threats Tuesday morning, two of which prompted the evacuation of voting locations for about 30 minutes each.

“Outside of these brief interruptions, Election Day has been quiet, with minimal issues reported and we remain prepared to address any misinformation or additional disruption to ensure a smooth experience for all voters today,” Williams said.

Of the 83 million voters nationwide who have already cast ballots, 45 million did so in person while 38 million mailed in ballots, according to the University of Florida Election Lab. About 37.7% of the early votes were cast by registered Democrats while 35.9% of Republicans voted early, according to the lab.

In the 2020 presidential election, 66% of eligible voters cast ballots, the highest of any national election. President Joe Biden beat Trump 51.31% to 46.85%, according to the Federal Election Commission.

This election is expected to be even closer than 2020.

An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Saturday showed Harris with an overall three-point advantage over Trump among likely voters nationwide, 49% to 46%.

Both Harris and Trump have spent the last week of the campaign barnstorming in battleground states, fighting tooth and nail for every last undecided vote. On Monday, the candidates engaged in a sprint to the finish line, holding multiple rallies in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

In a sampling of nine states, including the battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, 54% of the early voters were women and 43.8% were men, according to the lab. The largest block of early voters, 39.4%, were 41- to-65-year-olds, while voters over 65 represented 34.5% of the early vote.

Younger voters — 26 to 40 years old — made up 17.5% of the early vote, while 8.7% of voters 18 to 25 cast early ballots, according to the lab.

Some states like North Carolina, another key swing state, have shattered records for early voting.

More than 4.4 million voters have cast early ballots in North Carolina, 4.2 million of them in person, according to the lab. The North Carolina Board of Elections said the number of early voters broke a record, surpassing the 3.6 million early votes cast in the 2020 election, officials said.

In the swing state of Pennsylvania, at least 1.8 million people voted early via mail-in ballots, according to the Florida Election Lab, which reported that 55.7% of the earlier voters were women and 32.8% were men.

Early voting in Georgia began on Oct. 15, and more than 3.7 million people voted in person, while another 265,648 cast mail-in ballots, according to the lab. A breakdown of the early voters showed 55.7% were women and 43.5% were men, according to the lab.

In other battleground states, Michigan saw 3.2 million voters casting mail-in ballots, 55% women and 44.9% men; 2.3 million cast early mail-in ballots in Arizona, 40.8% of whom are registered Republicans and 32% Democrats, according to the lab.

In Nevada, another swing state, a little over 1 million voters cast early ballots, including 543,271 who voted in person and 556,062 who sent in mail-in ballots, the lab reported. Of those who voted early in Nevada, 37.5% were Republican and 33.7% were Democrat, according to the lab.

And in the battleground state of Wisconsin, 1.5 million people voted early, including 949,157 who cast in-person ballots and 561,616 who cast mail-in ballots, the lab reported.

ABC News’ Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Schools in a Kentucky country reopened Tuesday under heavy police guard for the first time since a massive search was launched for a suspect in an interstate shooting that injured five people 11 days ago.

As the suspect, 32-year-old Joseph Couch, remained on the loose Tuesday, the Laurel County Public Schools reopened campuses to its nearly 9,000 students.

“We will not live our lives in fear,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference Tuesday.

The school district said in a statement that the reopening plan “prioritizes the safety of our students and staff.”

“The reopening plan provides enhanced security measures for bus transportation services, school campuses and extra-curricular activities,” the school district said.

Tuesday’s search for Couch continued to focus in the thick woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest, according to the Kentucky State Police.

Both state and federal teams have combed through at least 28,000 acres of the more than 700,000-acre national forest, but have yet to find any sign of Couch, officials said.

As the search continues in the national forest, officials said they are expanding the hunt for Couch to the communities surrounding the forest.

Beshear said additional state resources are being made available to help with the ongoing search efforts.

The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service are assisting in the search.

The search for the gunman began on Sept. 7, after police responded to reports that a dozen vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 near London, Kentucky, had been struck by gunfire, officials said.

The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said 20 to 30 shots were fired from a hillside near I-75’s exit 49.

Couch was initially named as a person of interest after deputies found his SUV abandoned on a forest road near exit 49, officials said. An AR-15 rifle Couch purchased in the hours before the shooting and investigators believe was used in the incident was also found in the woods near Couch’s vehicle along with a bag with Couch’s name written on it, officials said.

A day after the shooting, Couch was upgraded to the primary suspect. Investigators warned that Couch should be considered armed and dangerous.

In addition to searching the national forest, a tip prompted investigators this week to search a home in Laurel County, but found no evidence of Couch having been there, officials said.

Before the interstate shooting, according to the arrest warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who alleged Couch texted her before the interstate shooting and “advised he was going to kill a lot of people. Well, try at least.” The text message was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. on Sept. 7, about a half-hour before the interstate shooting started, according to the arrest warrant.

“Couch sent another message to [the woman] that read, in part, ‘I’ll kill myself afterwards,'” according to the arrest warrant.

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(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for two former Memphis police officers convicted of obstruction in the beating death of Tyre Nichols filed motions for acquittal on Friday, both arguing that the government failed to prove the charge during the federal trial.

Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith and a third former Memphis police officer, Demetrius Haley, were initially charged with four counts in the beating death of Nichols, who ran from officers during a routine January 2023 traffic stop.

Bean, Smith and Haley were found guilty of the charge of obstruction through witness tampering on Oct. 3 when a jury returned mixed results in the federal case.

“There is absolutely no record evidence that supports an individual finding of Mr. Bean guilty of obstruction of justice,” Bean’s attorney John Perry argued in Friday’s motion. Meanwhile, Smith’s attorney Martin Zummach argued in his motion that “the government’s own proof established that Justin Smith had no intentional knowing desire to obstruct justice or withhold information in the reporting process or persuaded, or attempted to persuade, a witness in order to hinder or delay any investigation.”

Asked for further comment, Perry referred ABC News to the motion on Monday, saying that “it speaks for itself.”

“With God’s help, I will do my best to speak through and within the judicial process on behalf of Justin,” Zummach told ABC News via email on Monday.

ABC News reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

All three former officers were also initially charged with three additional counts — violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. Bean and Smith were found not guilty on those charges.

Meanwhile, Haley was acquitted of depriving Nichols of his civil rights causing death but found guilty on the lesser charge of depriving him of his civil rights resulting in bodily injury. He was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit obstruction.

The former officers did not take the stand in their own defense during the federal trial and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to the DOJ, Bean and Smith each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while Haley faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for both the violations of depriving an individual of their civil rights “and for being deliberately indifferent to the known serious medical needs of a person in his custody.” Haley faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for witness tampering charges, the department noted.

A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee on Oct. 7 ordered Haley to be held without bond until sentencing on Jan. 22, 2025, according court documents, but ruled that Bean and Smith were allowed to be on supervised release until the sentencing date.

According to court documents, Haley’s attorney filed a motion on Oct. 10 for Haley’s bond to be reinstated, arguing that the judge “erred in concluding that Mr. Haley was convicted of a crime of violence and subject to mandatory detention,” citing the fact that Haley was “acquitted of violating civil rights resulting in death and convicted of the lesser included offenses of violating civil rights resulting in bodily injury.”

ABC News reached out to the court but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

Body camera footage shows Nichols, 29, fled after police pulled him over on Jan. 7, 2023, for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him.

Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. Nichols died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023.

Two additional officers – Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. – were also charged in the federal case and testified during the trial for Bean, Smith and Haley after pleading guilty to some of the federal charges.

The five former officers charged in the case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.

All five former officers are also facing state felony charges, including second-degree murder, in connection with Nichols’ death. Bean, Smith and Haley pleaded not guilty to these charges. They pleaded not guilty to these charges.

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