U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant confirmed prosecutors will review the reports submitted to his office by Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, in compliance with the recently passed Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act, to determine whether to bring federal charges against alleged offenders.
Dunavant confirmed his office will review the cases during his appearance on WKNO’s Behind the Headlines last Friday, when he said it is “entirely the point” of Tennessee’s legislation, which will require Mulroy’s office to notify the Tennessee Attorney General, speakers of the State House and State Senate, and District Attorneys General Conference, in addition to the federal prosecutor’s office, any time the county enters into a plea agreement, reduces or drops charges, or declines to prosecute a case generated by the task force.
“If a case is dismissed or compromised or declined or settled in such a way that it does not properly vindicate an interest of the United States of America, it is my job and my interest to go and take a look at that case and see if we can adopt that for federal prosecution,” said Dunavant (pictured above).
The prosecutor also revealed that his office is already reviewing decisions made in Shelby County and “trying to make sure that we’re not missing any proper cases that we want to select for prosecution on our side.”
Of the legislation passed earlier this month by the Tennessee General Assembly, Dunavant added, “I believe that that law is designed for that purpose so that if for some reason the state court system is not able to handle that in an appropriate way, it just doesn’t go away. There is accountability and there’s culpability that will be dealt with by my office.”
Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), who introduced the accountability legislation alongside State Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis), shared a portion of Dunavant’s interview on social media.
“US Attorney Dunavant is making a HUGE impact by prosecuting routine and violent criminals to remove them from society so they cannot reoffend and hurt the law-abiding,” wrote Taylor. “He’s also able to pick up cases under federal jurisdiction when our Soros-backed DA doesn’t aggressively prosecute.”
🚨US Attorney Mike Dunavant was asked on “Behind the Headlines” about my Memphis Safe Task Force DA Accountability Act: “If a case is dismissed, compromised, declined, or settled in such a way that it does not properly vindicate an interest of the United States of America, it is… pic.twitter.com/RRqEwxEHMx
— Senator Brent Taylor (@SenBrentTaylor) April 25, 2026
Dunavant’s praise for the legislation came one week after Mulroy questioned its constitutionality and the amount of “busy work” he claimed it would create for his office.
“I’m going to have to take staff away from doing their regular job and do a manual review of these cases, separate them out from all the other cases, which we treat the same anyway, and do a special report,” said the district attorney. “It’s busy work, it’s paperwork, it’s taking us away from our job, it is not making Shelby County safer.”
Since it was deployed last September, the task force has recorded more than 8,000 arrests by its members, while the City of Memphis reports more than 10,000 total arrests during the same period. Late last year, Memphis was reported to have seen its lowest crime rate since 2001.
Watch Dunavant’s full comments:
– – –
Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Steve Mulroy” by Steve Mulroy.
