‘Ringing all the bells’: Local and state leaders call for judges to hold more trials; threaten to withhold funding

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - If the wheels of justice don’t start turning faster in Memphis and Shelby County, there could be fewer judges dishing out that justice.

Local and state leaders are threatening to withhold funding, and even reduce the number of courtrooms if criminal court judges don’t start holding more trials.

The COVID-19 pandemic slowed things down at 201 Poplar for two years when no jury trials were allowed.

Then the 2022 election ushered in five new judges on the 10-judge criminal court panel who faced a steep learning curve. 

This is in addition to one judge who’s been off the bench dealing with legal problems since taking office.

But critics say none of that is any excuse for what they label a “broken justice system” and they want the judges to start holding more trials and work longer hours.

“I’m ringing all the bells that I can and trying to shine a light on this problem,” Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright told Action News 5.

Wright renewed his call this week for the criminal court judges to work harder after what he observed during a visit to the courthouse on Tuesday at 2:30 in the afternoon: courtrooms locked up, empty hallways, and the wheels of justice at a full stop.

“As I’m looking forward to the budget,” said Wright, “I’m not going to be approving any funding for the courts unless they can give us some kind of a plan to say that they’re doing anything different or anything extra to speed this up.”

Retired Judge Robert Carter, Jr., hired by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland to monitor court activity, found that fewer than 40 trials have taken place in 2023. Shelby County’s 10 criminal courts, he said, historically conducted 200 jury trials a year.

“The judges need to get their asses to work,” State Senator Brent Taylor said during a Zoom interview with Action News 5 on Wednesday.

Taylor said low-performing judges could cause Shelby County to lose judges because their positions are created and assigned statewide by lawmakers in Nashville.

“The legislature is going to do a case study,” said Senator Taylor, “to determine which judges are working and which ones aren’t. And that’s going to result in many of these judges that aren’t having court, shifting all of those judgeships to Middle Tennessee where they’re bursting at the seams.”

And that, said Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, would be devastating in a county with 300 pending murder cases.

”I don’t know if I would say that the system or the judges are broken,” said Mulroy, “I don’t want to pile everything onto the judges. I think that we’ve got a backlog. And there are some judges that need to be trying more cases.” 

The DA pledged to speed things up. He, along with Senator Taylor and Commissioner Wright hope Memphis judges will follow suit.

“People are waiting now years and years to get their day in court,” said Commissioner Wright, “and that is completely unacceptable. People have a right to a speedy trial. And right now, Shelby County is not providing that.”

Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft responded to the allegations late Wednesday night, telling Action News 5: “We have so much crime in Shelby County, we need every judge we can get. There are no trials happening because the DA’s office and Public Defender’s office are striking more plea deals than they ever have before.”

Judge Craft said those deals carry much lighter sentences than in previous years, so a defendant no longer feels the need to go to trial.

The veteran judge also said there’s a staff shortage in the Public Defender’s office after the DA hired away many of those attorneys, and that is contributing to the slow pace of clearing more cases more quickly.

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