Shelby Co. Sheriff's Office investigating 'internal failures' after fatal courtroom stabbing

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office is conducting an internal investigation into how a man was able to obtain and smuggle a shank from his jail cell, and use it to fatally stab another inmate inside a courtroom's holding area, the department announced Monday afternoon.

The investigation comes days after Donnie Clay stabbed Deion Byrd in the neck while waiting for their court appearances Thursday morning in Shelby County Criminal Court Division 1.

"The sheriff's office is reviewing this tragic event and would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to the family of Mr. Byrd," SCSO said in a press release Monday. "The Bureau of Professional Standards and Integrity is focusing on internal failures that led to this unfortunate incident, while the command staff is reviewing changes, improvements and training that we hope will prevent such an occurrence in the future."

How thoroughly inmates of the Shelby County Jail are searched prior to being brought to their respective courtrooms is still unclear. The Shelby County Jail is overseen by SCSO, and bailiffs within courtrooms are deputies with SCSO.

Both Clay and Byrd, along with a number of additional inmates, were brought up to the courtrooms together. Due to the elevator to the Division 1 courtroom being broken Thursday morning, the group of men were handcuffed to one another and walked from the Division 4 courtroom, which had a working elevator, to Division 1, passing through a public hallway that had attorneys and other civilians milling about.

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Shortly after being brought to the holding area, which is a room attached to the courtroom by a door, a reporter with The Commercial Appeal heard yelling. Bailiffs rushed into the holding area, and eventually brought Byrd out.

Byrd walked out of the courtroom, holding the side of his neck with his hand. He died about two hours later.

Clay was charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing Friday, with an affidavit saying Byrd had walked up to him and accused him of breaking into his home. When Clay denied it, the affidavit said Byrd spit on him. Clay then said "I'm gonna kill you now," and then began chasing Byrd with the makeshift knife that the affidavit said was stored in the waistband of his jail jumpsuit.

Minutes after Byrd was escorted out of the courtroom, Clay was taken out by deputies. As he was brought out, he was yelling at the deputies, and to the people in the courtroom.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan, who presides over the Division 1 courtroom, said she had never seen or heard of someone getting stabbed in a courtroom setting before Thursday.

"I can't understand how the inmate had a shank and was able to bring it up into a courtroom-type setting," Skahan said. "Beyond frightening. My heart goes out to the victim's family and friends. The perpetrator could have stabbed anyone in the courtroom if he was brought in there today."

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County sheriff investigating 'internal failures' after stabbing