State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) invited Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy to answer the disqualification charges levied against him in the Tennessee General Assembly after the Board of Professional Responsibility cleared the controversial prosecutor in a complaint filed by the state senator.
Mulroy wrote in a post to Faceboook on February 6 that the complaint was dismissed, claiming that the complaint required him to correct “false statements regarding and employee and former employee of our office,” and stated that the lawmaker’s “criticism is misleading and dismissive of prosecutors.”
The district attorney told The Commercial Appeal that Taylor’s ethical complaint was the first filed, not the more recent complaint in which Taylor listed nine reasons for Mulroy’s removal from office. The complaint specifically questioned Mulroy’s hiring practices.
In a response posted to the social media platform X, Taylor indicated that Mulroy should have replied to the complaint more quickly after the state senator filed it last year.
“For a fella who says I’m full of s***, he sure is fighting a committee who could prove him write,” wrote Mulroy. “Our Interim DA is acting like the guy who’s cheating on his wife and he’s afraid to let her use his phone!”
On Wednesday, when both men seemed to receive formal notice that the complaint was closed, Mulroy wrote that he has “endured many false attacks on my professionalism, qualifications, and character” and claimed the dismissal ended Taylor’s such comments.
In another post to X, Taylor noted that while the second complaint remains active, Mulroy also faces possible removal from office by the General Assembly.
“Although the Board of Professional Responsibility cleared him in this narrow instance, the underlying evidence of inappropriate ex parte communications with judges is nothing I’d want spray painted on an overpass for everyone to see,” wrote Taylor.
The Memphis Republican added, “I am glad he was cleared on a portion of one cause of the nine causes that deserve review by the General Assembly. DA Mulroy should welcome the opportunity to explain his actions to the General Assembly.”
Taylor has introduced a resolution in the Tennessee Senate to consider Mulroy’s removal and outlined nine reasons for lawmakers to remove the district attorney in a press conference last month.
According to Taylor, the district attorney ignores Tennessee laws, abuses his prosecutorial discretion, fails to collect fines paid into the Tennessee Criminal Injury Compensation Fund, engages in prosecution based on race, illegally colludes with judges, abandons his role as a prosecutor on a death row case, fails to notify victims of court developments, and fails to adequately manage his office, and falsely claimed not to have information in response to a freedom of information request.
Taylor filed his resolution on January 15, and though it was not necessary for lawmakers to consider it, Representative Mark Cochran (R-Englewood) introduced a companion resolution in the Tennessee State House.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Steve Mulroy” by Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.
