Saddled with growing concerns over a revolving door judicial system – particularly with violent offenders – Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright called for Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Bill Anderson to step down on Thursday, April 25.
The request was aired during a keynote address to Whitehaven Republican of Shelby County during a keynote.
Furthermore, Mick Wright has reached out to other elected leaders to organize the judicial commissioner’s removal from office.
Anderson supervises the county’s judicial commissioners. He was re-elected to another 8-year term in 2022. One of the senior members, he has served on the bench since 2010.
“I was elected to an eight-year term by the people of Shelby County and I intend to fulfill my obligation to the best of my ability,” Anderson texted The Daily Memphian Friday, April 26.
At issue are decisions regarding bond and release of suspects awaiting trial.
Anderson supports the county’s Standing Bail Order policy, which was put in place last year. Prior to the change, he cautioned commissioners that the approach would take time to implement. However, judges would have to accept the new approach.
A bail hearing room was created to prevent a lawsuit the ACLU was threatening to bring against the City of Memphis. Along with the offense and the suspect’s criminal history, justices are required to consider the financial circumstances as well.
However, Wright’s anger stems from information presented during a March 6 update.
Shelby County Criminal Court lead judicial Commissioner John Marshall presented data that reflected two different lengths in time for comparison.
Pretrial services revealed from March 2023 – the first full month of the standing bail order – through December 2023, the court averaged about 1,500 bonds per month.
Of those, 33.9 percent received affordable bail. This figure includes 26.7 percent of all suspects, who were released on their own recognizance. An additional 7 percent received a bond that was “affordable.”
“That means that 66 percent – two-thirds of our bonds – are unaffordable,” said Marshall.
That data was compared to a smaller sample from July through December 2022. It showed 6.4 percent of suspects received a bench warrant because they failed to appear in court. Meanwhile, another 7 percent were re-arrested for another offense. Anderson said the rate was an improvement over the six-month report before the introduction of a bail room.
That report showed a re-arrest rate of 11 percent, while another 6.7 percent were arrested for failure to appear in court – close to the current number provided.
Wright pounced. The earlier sample collected re-arrests six months past the end of the report, while the second report captured re-arrests for nine days.
“You have almost a full year to measure whether re-arrests happened under the first court and nine days on the second. If you have the same cut-off date, what happens is you end up with the same re-arrest rate,” said Wright. “Those statistics were juiced…It did the public a disservice.”
Marshall agreed the sample’s sizes didn’t match. Wright did not blame him for the mixup.
Anderson was present at the March presentation.
In February, Anderson was reprimanded twice by the Tennessee State Board of Judicial Conduct. One admonishment was for claiming the county’s judicial “system is broken.” The other, for raising his voice at a police officer during a bond hearing.
If his removal gains traction, it will add to the stretch of hard luck that has beset the county court.
On April 5, former Shelby County District 9 Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd pleaded guilty to harassment and coercing a witness, her former campaign manager and love interest. It followed her resignation earlier in the month. She is currently under state-ordered drug treatment in Jackson. It will be followed by another round of treatment in Memphis.
The Tennessee Legislature also voted to eliminate two Shelby County judicial courts this month.
