A former police chief whose two federal unreasonable force trials ended in hung juries indicated Wednesday he will plead guilty to a lesser charge before the start of his third trial.

Attorneys for ex-Citronelle Chief John Tyler Norris notified the federal court in Mobile that Norris intends to plead guilty to a lesser charge, court records showed.

The notice does not say what the lesser charge is, but Norris’ attorneys told Fox 10 the offense is a misdemeanor.

Norris is accused of kneeing a person in police custody in the stomach in 2021.

He was charged with deprivation of rights under color of law, “which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer,” and witness tampering for allegedly misleading state authorities investigating the incident, according to the indictment filed against him last year.

Norris allegedly kneed the victim, only identified by the initials I.M., “multiple times” in the stomach on June 30, 2021.

The former Citronelle police chief also allegedly “knowingly and willfully” misled special agents with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency “in a statement he provided in connection with ALEA’s investigation of the unlawful force against I.M.” on Sept. 7, 2021, according to the indictment.

His first two trials resulted in hung juries.