Memphis interim Police Chief C.J. Davis urged unity and offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to arrests of those behind the Saturday shootings at an illegal block party that resulted in two deaths and at least six injured in a Sunday statement.
Davis described the events at the illegal block party as “senseless acts of violence,” then asked Memphis citizens for help finding the culprits.
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Memphis Mayor Paul Young confirmed he will ask for a property tax hike, explaining the money is needed to cover a budget shortfall and fund the city’s fight against crime.
Young announced his plans during a Tuesday event at Mount Vernon Church in Westwood that marked his first 100 days in office, revealing the city needs “at least $30 million” to fulfill obligations previously funded by expiring federal funding. The Commercial Appeal also reported Young also “vowed” a 10 percent “reduction in violent crime” each year he is in office.
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The man police say was responsible for the Friday shooting that claimed the life of a Memphis police officer and left two more wounded was previously arrested in March on theft and gun charges.
Memphis Police Department (MPD) arrest and bail records obtained by The Tennessee Star reveal that 18-year-old Jaylen Lobley, who died in the Friday shooting with police, was previously arrested on March 5 after police responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle.
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Just 100 days into the year, the Memphis Police Department reported on Tuesday that it recorded the city’s 100th homicide of 2024.
Memphis Police Department (MPD) Chief CJ Davis revealed on Tuesday that her department recorded 100 homicides on April 9, coinciding with the 100th day of 2024, as part of a public safety update delivered to the Memphis City Council.
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A criminally indicted Shelby County judge, who last week was jailed for her alleged cocaine use, has reportedly asked to resign from her public position.
Shelby County Judge Melissa Boyd asked to resign from her judgeship in a letter dated March 29, according to Fox 13, which reported that Boyd’s letter bears the signature of one of her criminal defense attorneys.
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Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd was remanded to jail by Tennessee Circuit Judge Roy Morgan on Wednesday after prosecutors provided evidence she tested positive for cocaine twice and failed to appear for a third drug test, violating the terms of her bond.
Boyd was previously granted a low, $5,000 bond after she was criminally indicted in December for alleged harassment and coercion of a former campaign employee. That employee stated Boyd abused drugs and alcohol while serving as a judge, including while she made decisions on the bench.
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The Tennessee General Assembly on Monday passed legislation that would see families of juvenile offenders fined for repeated criminal acts and teenage thieves charged as adults, with the bills now headed to Governor Bill Lee for final approval.
The Juvenile Organized Retail Theft Act, SB 2573, mandates that punishments for organized retail theft and car break-ins resulting in the theft of more than $1,000 worth of goods must be considered a Class E felony, which carries a sentence of at least one year in prison. The bill would additionally apply to juvenile defendants who are at least 15.
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A towing company that sued the City of Memphis last year over racism allegations is now a defendant in a lawsuit which asserts it is engaged in a racketeering scheme to squeeze owners 18-wheelers with excessive, duplicative and illegal fees for parking. The plaintiffs also claim the company engages in illegal towing, booting or impounding of vehicles.
The lawsuit claims the owner of A1’s Towing and Hauling of Memphis, Colton Ahmad Cathey, is the co-creator of an illegal network of towing and booting companies that lure unsuspecting drivers to their lots then charge excessive fees to remediate illegal booting and towing of their vehicles.
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A left wing group posted the personal business information of Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) to social media on Sunday, prompting the lawmaker to reply that he does not “intimidate easily.”
In a Sunday post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the account Decarcerate Memphis posted a real estate listing for Taylor’s Memphis home, and gave information about the lawmaker’s private sector job as the owner of a funeral home.
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Memphis Mayor Paul Young revealed on Wednesday that met with a number of gang leaders with the goal of brokering a ceasefire between them to lower crime in the city in early February.
The meeting occurred months after Young promised to unveil a sophisticated crime plan within 100 days after taking office that would address the surge in criminality the Tennessee city experienced last year.
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Bills advancing through the Tennessee General Assembly would make it a misdemeanor crime for a defendant to violate the conditions of their bail.
The legislation seeks to create a new Class A misdemeanor offense to charge defendants who violate the terms of release secured by paying a bond. Lawmakers specifically want to amend the existing Tennessee Code that mandates arrest warrants be filed for those who violate their release terms to also include the criminal offense.
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The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (BJC) Shelby County General Sessions publicly reprimanded Judge Bill Anderson on Tuesday after he belittled a police sergeant and revealed his disdain for the “bail bond system” in Tennessee.
The BJC served Anderson the public reprimand after he declared his opposition to the concept of bail and bail bonding companies in September 2023, when the judge claimed bail bonding companies “don’t do anything but collect money from poor people” during a meeting of the Shelby County Commission, and declared, “I detest the bail bond system in Shelby County, I detest it across this state.”
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Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) will hold a joint event with Memphis Mayor Paul Young at Memphis City Hall.
In a Thursday media release from Sexton’s office, the leaders revealed they plan to “make a major announcement alongside Mayor Young, law enforcement officials and community leaders” on Friday at 10:30 a.m.
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A new report released by the office of Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy on Tuesday reveals the district attorney made his office more diverse and focused on fairness during his first year in office. Memphis suffered a crime wave during Mulroy’s first year on the job, ultimately giving it the highest homicide rate per capita in a study of large U.S. cities.
Mulroy began his report with a statement claiming “Crime and Reform” are “complementary,” arguing, “Reform restores public confidence in the fairness of our system, which is understandably low after years of neglect,” which in turn will lead to more “cooperation” with law enforcement, leading to a decrease in crime.
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Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said in a Tuesday press conference that he is officially pushing Memphis to build its own crime lab, citing the sheer amount of crime happening in the city. His call follows analysis that showed Memphis with the highest homicide rate in the United States in 2023.
Mulroy said a crime lab in Memphis would allow authorities to solve crimes “at a higher rate,” and noted a number of new investigative resources it would offer local law enforcement.
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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump reportedly urged Memphis Mayor Paul Young to embrace the police reforms passed through city ordinances following the death of Tyre Nichols last year, even after former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland claimed the ordinances were illegal.
Crump, who represents family members of Nichols, said in a statement issued on the anniversary of Nichols’ death that the family and legal team “are deeply disturbed by the recent revelation by former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland that he actively avoided signing and enforcing the Driving Equality Act in honor of Tyre Nichols that the Memphis City Council passed in Spring 2023.”
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Memphis had the highest murder rate of 2023 in a comparison of 10 major cities identified as “homicide hubs” within the United States, according to an analysis published Wednesday.
The only Tennessee city tracked for the Wirepoints report, Memphis had a murder rate of 63.9 homicides per 100,000 people in 2023. A total of 397 homicides were reported in the city last year, up by 38 percent from 2022, when the city saw 288 homicides.
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A report published in November found more than 30,000 Tennesseans left Memphis between 2017 and 2022, causing the city to shrink by almost 5 percent, even as Tennessee’s other major cities grew over the same period. The exodus coincides with a years-long struggle with crime in Memphis that has subsisted despite repeated attempts to render aid by the state and federal governments.
The 2023 study of population decline in United States cities by SmartAsset found that Memphis declined from 652,231 residents in 2017 to 621,050 residents in 2022, marking a 4.78 percent decrease in the city’s population. Memphis had the 27th worst decline in population in the country, according to the study.
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As its new mayor was sworn in Monday, the City of Memphis recorded its first homicide.
Just after noon on Monday, a man was shot and killed at a Whitehaven gas station, according to reports. Two others were injured in the shooting, and a suspect has not yet been identified.
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Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy gave details about a an “aggressive prosecution” strategy to Memphis media on Tuesday, promising to target violent offenses with a new strategy beginning in 2024.
Mulroy said he will modify his office’s practices regarding bail, court deadlines, and investigations for those accused of committing a number of violent and property crimes beginning on January 1, according to News Channel 3.
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State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) issued a formal request on Tuesday to obtain agreements between Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s Office and three “restorative justice organizations” with the Tennessee District Attorneys Conference (TDAC). Taylor highlighted Mulroy’s agreements with three groups seeking to eliminate bail or decrease the number of his office’s prosecutions.
Taylor charged that “Memphians have a right to know if the agreements between the DA’s office and these outside groups are inconsistent with state laws and policies” in a press release and stressed that Mulroy’s “job is to further his prosecutorial duties, not embark on a restorative justice campaign.”
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Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) requested investigations on Wednesday into Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan and Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s Office to determine if they orchestrated the “illegal” release of a Memphis man serving a 162-year prison sentence and the decision to move double murderer off death row.
In a Wednesday press release, Taylor noted Skahan and Mulroy worked together to secure the 2022 release of Courtney Anderson, who they claimed received an unjust sentence of 162 years, by reducing his sentence to 15 years. That decision was overturned by the Tennessee Court of Appeals this year, with Judge J. Ross Dyer writing in his October 18 opinion that Skahan “illegally” granted clemency for Anderson by essentially commuting his sentence, a power which the state constitution solely grants to the Governor of Tennessee.
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McKinney Wright of Memphis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in the 2018 shooting of businessman Phil Trenary on Monday, accepting the lower charge in a plea agreement that saw additional charges against him dropped.
Wright entered his guilty plea on Monday morning, with local media reporting his agreement saw prosecutors drop drug charges against him. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but already spent five years in a Memphis jail that will count toward his sentence.
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The number of Tennessee citizens behind bars increased in 2022, coinciding with a drop in violent crime, according to data released this week by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and numbers tracked by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
Tennessee saw a 7.9 percent increase in the state’s prison population in 2023, according to the report. The new prisoners include 1,615 men and 125 women. Additionally, the DOJ data release notes that Tennessee is one of only four states that saw more than 1,500 new prisoners during 2022, joined by Texas, Florida, Mississippi.
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Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Bill Anderson responded to criticism over his decision to release alleged murder Edio White, 18, with zero bond, in a media appearance on Thursday. During the interview, Anderson held a stack of notebook papers toward the camera and called them “essays” about gun ownership that he requires defendants to write before they are granted bond.
“These are my essays that I get from every single defendant,” said Anderson. The judge requires defendants to write essays explaining why a young person in Memphis would desire to carry a weapon, the outlet reported.
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A Tennessee State Senator joined “Fox & Friends First” Friday morning to discuss violent crime in Memphis, which has been the subject of national news and viral videos in recent weeks.
“It’s really bad here, Todd,” State Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) told Fox News’ Todd Piro. “The crime is really out of control here in Memphis. Matter of fact, just last week I sent a letter to the governor asking him to send in additional state troopers to Shelby County. Just in a weekend, Todd, we had 21 shootings, five murders, four smash-and-grabs, we had a FedEx truck stopped in traffic by a group of people that then opened up the back of the truck and looted the back of the FedEx truck.”
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will provide more resources for Memphis, which is battling a wave of violent crime and has already broken its annual homicide record.
“Violent crime deprives communities of a fundamental sense of security in their own homes and neighborhoods,” said Acting Assistant Attorney Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a DOJ press release. “This violent crime initiative will bring additional tools and resources used to investigate and prosecute violent crime and apply those tools to gangs and groups who are harming and disrupting communities here in Memphis.”
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The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office increased its presence in shopping areas on Friday in what the law enforcement body calls Operation Jingle Bells, an effort to deter crime in public spaces during the busy holiday shopping season.
A press release posted to social media explained a “high concentration” of law enforcement will focus on primary shopping areas to “deter car break-ins, shop lifting,” and to keep traffic flowing and parking lots safe for shoppers.
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A Republican state senator penned a two-page letter to Gov. Bill Lee (R) asking for state assistance to deal with Memphis’ recent crime surge.
Recounting recent spates of violence, many of which have been reported by The Tennessee Star, State Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) said:
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Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland (D) joined FOx13 in Memphis Monday where he was forced to answer some poignant questions about the city’s crime in the wake of a viral video showing a Memphis Police Department (MPD) officer being assaulted by a group of men.
“All of this is completely unacceptable, and somebody out there knows who did both those actions, and they need to call Crime Stoppers because we need quick justice to all those criminals,” Strickland said.
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The Memphis Police Department (MPD) shared a post on its Facebook Page celebrating its involvement with LGBT organizers during “pride month.”
“The Memphis Police Department joined community leaders, visitors, and participants for the 2023 Mid-South Pride Parade on Beale Street,” MPD said on Facebook. “Officers ensured the safety of everyone and provided traffic control around today’s events. The weather was perfect, and the food was excellent.”
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In his weekly update, Memphis’ mayor lamented the city’s “revolving door” of crime, and said he supports new tough-on-crime legislature recently enacted by the Tennessee legislature.
“Last week, I told you about a man who, while driving a car, struck a Memphis police officer on foot, causing him to roll over the hood and be thrown to the ground. He led officers on a high-speed vehicle pursuit and crashed into a citizen’s car. He fled on foot. Officers apprehended him and found him in possession of a handgun. He was given a $15,000 bond,” said Mayor Jim Strickland. “Guess what has happened? He has posted his bond, was released, and is out and about in the Memphis community.”
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