Shelby County Judge Who Released Alleged Thanksgiving Murderer with Zero Bail Recently Railed Against Bond System in Tennessee

Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Bill Anderson released alleged Thanksgiving Day murderer Edio White with zero bond on Monday, even after police said White admitted to driving the getaway car after the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old, and against the recommendation of Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy.

“Records show both White’s attorney and the District Attorney’s office recommended a $75,000 bond. Instead, Judge Bill Anderson recommended White’s release on his own recognizance,” Fox 13 Memphis reported.

Anderson (pictured above) released White, 18, with zero bond within 72 hours of his arrest for the first-degree murder of 15-year-old Anthony Mason, on Monday.

Police said White admitted to serving as the getaway driver on November 23 while his accomplice, Conner Tucker, planned to lure Mason out of his home with an offer to trade firearms. When Mason left his home, police said Tucker admitted to shooting him once in the head, and that White admitted to driving the duo away from the scene of the crime.

On Tuesday, State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) sent a letter to Michelle Long, Administrative Director of the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, in which he brought Judge Anderson’s conduct in releasing White on his own recognizance to the attention of the state office responsible for overseeing judicial conduct.

“As a senator for Shelby County and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am writing your agency to bring attention to the circumstances surrounding the release of Edio White, who is charged with 1st Degree Murder in Shelby County for a murder committed on November 23, 2023. Defendant White was subsequently released on his own recognizance by General Sessions Judge Bill Anderson. The District Attorney had requested bail of $75,000 and enrollment in Memphis Allies program administered by Youth Villages, ” Taylor wrote.

What is disturbing about this specific case is that Judge Anderson on September 18, 2023, in his testimony before the Shelby County Commission stated he ‘detest[s] the bail system in Shelby County,’ and he ‘detest[s] the bail system in the state of Tennessee.’ Moreover, he further testified that bail companies only ‘collect money from poor people.’ By assuming our bail system simply ‘collects money from poor people,’ Judge Anderson gravely misunderstands the important role bail plays in Tennessee’s criminal justice system,” Taylor continued.

“My concern is Judge Anderson’s animus toward the bail system has put my constituents in Shelby County in more danger. Not only do I feel his contempt for the bail system influenced his decisions, but as the supervising judge over the judicial commissioner program in Shelby County, his influence is corrupting the judicial commissioners’ bail decisions too, which is evidenced by continued setting of low bail amounts,” Taylor added.In the letter, Taylor said he was “forward[ing] video evidence via email of Judge Anderson’s testimony before the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.”

That video evidence was recorded during a September 18 meeting of the Shelby County Commission in which Judge Anderson critiqued cash bail in Tennessee, and  extended his condemnation to bail bonding companies, claiming “they don’t do anything but collect money from poor people.”When discussing bond requirements, Anderson rhetorically asked the commissioners, “Who’s going to enforce it? Not the bail bondsman company, they could care less.” Anderson said, “I detest the bail bond system in Shelby County, I detest it across the state.”

In the video, Anderson was speaking before the Shelby County Commission alongside Judicial Commissioner John Marshall to defend the results of the bail reform the commission passed earlier in 2023, which mandates all criminal defendants receive a bail hearing within 72 hours, and requires the courts to consider their ability to pay when setting a bond amount.

Shelby County District Attorney Mulroy enacted this new bail system on February 15 after the Shelby County Commission passed it in August 2022. Local media reported it will require the bond to be set within 72 hours of an arrest and “will analyze someone’s finances and their ability to pay bail in the first place.”

Though bond in Tennessee is governed by statute, and not code, a bail hearing, and bond revocation presentation available on the Tennessee Courts website explains the statute dictates “all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offenses, when the proof is evidence, or the presumption great.” Police said White confessed to his role in the crime.

Judge Anderson has not offered an explanation of why he released White, a suspect charged with first degree murder, which is a capital offense, on his own recognizance.

District Attorney Mulroy has also not yet offered an explanation as to why he only asked for a $75,000 bond for White.

The legal and custody status of White’s co-defendant and alleged trigger man, 15-year-old Conner Tucker, is unclear.

Judge Anderson received a public reprimand in 2016 over a bond-related issue. Upon learning an acquaintance was arrested and placed in a Barlett, Tennessee jail, Anderson “made multiple phone calls” to determine if a bond had been set before eventually traveling to the jail himself in a bid to find the judge.

When he learned the bond was not set due to the recent death of a judge, the public reprimand explains Anderson demanded contact information for the remaining judges. When Anderson did not receive this information, the reprimand explains that Anderson attempted to use his authority as a Shelby County judge to release his acquaintance on his own recognizance.

The jailers refused to comply, and the defendant’s bond was eventually set at $10,000. After the bond was set, the reprimand reveals Anderson contacted the judge to urge him to follow the terms Anderson set in the release. These actions were all determined to violate a number of rules for judges.

First elected to a judge position in 2010, Anderson won a packed race with more than 20 candidates, but received just 14.93 percent of the vote. He retained his position with 72.1 percent of the vote in 2022.

 

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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bill Anderson” by Bill Anderson.