Why a Tennessee state senator wants investigation of Shelby Co. DA’s office, judge

Tennessee state Sen. Brent Taylor has requested two state bodies launch investigations into the behavior of the Shelby County District Attorney's Office and a Shelby County Criminal Court judge months after two rulings were made.

The two cases that Taylor expressed concern in were before Judge Paula Skahan. One case, in which Skahan altered Courtney Anderson's 162-year sentence for nonviolent offenses, had a ruling handed down in December 2022. The other, which saw Michael Sample's death penalty sentence vacated and changed to life in prison, concluded in May this year.

The Memphis Republican's letter was sent Tuesday to the Board of Judicial Conduct, which oversees the actions of judges in Tennessee, and the Board of Professional Responsibility, which oversees actions lawyers in the state take. Neither board could confirm if an investigation was ongoing, citing confidentiality unless or until disciplinary actions are taken.

The ruling in Anderson's case was later reversed by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, saying Skahan's ruling amounted "to nothing more than an improper attempt to commute the petitioner's sentence under the guise of a motion to re-open" his post-conviction proceedings.

More: Memphis NAACP asks Lee for clemency for Courtney Anderson after 160-year sentence reinstated

The Tennessee governor is the only official with the ability to commute someone's sentence.

"Was the sentence for Courtney Anderson — 162 years for a nonviolent offense — was that excessive? Absolutely," Taylor said in a phone call with The Commercial Appeal. "It was excessive, but because it's excessive does not give a judge and the DA the authority or the right to collude to get a predetermined outcome to a hearing. There are ways to address the excessive nature of that sentence, and the best way to do that would be through the governor's office. Just because something's excessive doesn't mean we can violate the law to correct it."

Taylor, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in his letter, that if Skahan knew she did not have the power to get a man out of prison and tried to do it anyway, she has "abused her office, ignored the limitations imposed upon her by the legislature and thumbed her nose at the Tennessee Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers."

Skahan was not available Wednesday for comment due to a trial.

Taylor also took issue with the way the DA's office interacted with the Anderson case, saying it is "imperative the public know how" Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy "helped in correcting what was clearly a legal prison sentence," quoting from a press release the office issued in December announcing Anderson's sentencing change.

Mulroy, in an interview with The CA Wednesday, said his office did not act in an unethical way when handling the Anderson case.

"There was an in-chambers conversation, and the prosecutor came to me with it," he said. "Everything else beyond that was just the normal kind of action you'd take in these cases. A motion was filed, and we decided not to oppose it. The judge ruled on it. That was it."

'He's not a lawyer. Neither has he been a prosecutor'

Taylor did not take issue with Skahan's conduct in the Sample case, but said he believes a DA's office should have taken an "adversarial position" when presented with findings from mental health experts, and let the court decide the case's outcome.

"Perhaps Michael Sample met the three prongs of mental disability," he said. "But that should have been for a judge to decide. That should have been determined by the judge, not by the acquiescence of the DA. Our justice system only works if there's an adversarial nature to it. The DA is the people's attorney, and the people's attorney convicted him years prior and it was the people's attorney's responsibility to protect that sentence."

Taylor said he would have had "no issue" if the judge had ruled that Sample had a mental disability and was not eligible for the death penalty.

For Mulroy, being adversarial in the courtroom is not the role of a prosecutor. He said that the role is to seek justice in a case, which does not mean winning a case at any cost.

"I consider Brent Taylor a friend, but he's not a lawyer. Neither has he been a prosecutor," he said. "Not only would it be a waste of resources, and inefficient, to try to aggressively prosecute a case when you don't think that you are likely to win, but it's also unethical. The prosecutor, unique among all lawyers in our system, has a heightened ethical responsibility to not just try to win but to do justice. He represents the community's interest in justice, not any particular victim or client.

"...If the prosecutor has significant doubts about the guilt of somebody, or whether they're eligible for a particular sentence, then it's their job to make it right."

Memphis courts news: Man charged in Phil Trenary shooting enters plea deal, sentenced to 25 years prison

The letter went on to say the DA's office "stipulated to facts with no proof offered," and that the DA's office not pushing back on the findings of the defense's mental health experts was what allowed Sample to be moved from death row.

Mulroy, however, said the experts cited by the defense were credible, with one of them being used by the DA's office in the past.

"Based on my review of the expert reports, among other things, and meeting with defense counsel, I was convinced that [Sample] was intellectually disabled," he said. "If I believe he's intellectually disabled, then it would be unethical for me to argue for the death penalty. The Supreme Court has made very clear that, as a constitutional matter, if you're intellectually disabled, you are not eligible to be executed."

Questions of political motivations

Mulroy, a Democrat, also noted that Taylor's decision to call for an investigation, specifically citing the Sample case, seems politically motivated. The state legislature did not scrutinize a similar decision made by former DA Amy Weirich, a Republican, when her office withdrew objections over moving Pervis Payne from death row.

"I think it's hard to avoid that conclusion," Mulroy said of politicizing the investigation request. "With respect to withdrawing a motion for the death penalty because of evidence of intellectual disability, Pervis Payne and Michael Sample is one example [of politically motivated scrutiny]. But also there was ever-rising crime, including ever-rising violent crime, under DA Weirich to the point that Memphis was number one in the country per capita for violent crime for the last several years of her time in office. No one ever talked about impeaching DA Weirich or having the state government hold DA Weirich accountable. No one ever bothered to send a letter to the ethics office about what happened."

Taylor was not a state senator while Weirich was in office, and told The CA he was not overly familiar with the Payne case, but said he would have been critical of her as well had he been in office at the time.

"If the situation were the same, and General Weirich did the same thing that General Mulroy did, I would have been critical of her as well," Taylor said. "I've called out some judges in the last several weeks — Judge [Bill] Anderson and now Judge Skahan — who had been endorsed by the Republican Party. I'm not interested in a Democrat or Republican DA, I'm just interested in protecting Memphians, and the only way Memphians can be protected is if the people's attorney, the district attorney, maintains an adversarial position in court."

Taylor, a week ago, sent a letter to the Board of Judicial Conduct requesting an investigation into Anderson after a man alleged to be the getaway driver in a shooting, knowing the plan was to rob a teen and who has been charged with first-degree murder, was released on his own recognizance. The DA's office requested a higher bail amount in the case.

More: Report: Shelby County Criminal Court tried fewer cases, takes too long to reach trial

The letter to the Board of Judicial Conduct and Board of Professional Responsibility, along with other files like a press release from Taylor's office and the appellate ruling in the Anderson case, were sent to The CA Wednesday morning by an email account associated with Republican political consulting firm Margin of Victory Partners. Taylor is listed as a client of the group, along with several conservative members of the Tennessee General Assembly, the Tennessee Republican Party and the Tennessee House Republican Caucus.

When asked if the consulting firm sending out the letter and press release indicated the request for an investigation was to be used as a political tool, Taylor said it was "a lesson learned" and that he had the organization send the email because it had the proper media contacts.

In the past, Taylor has sent copies of official letters to members of the media through his official general assembly email.

"In future letters, I won't do that and I'll send it out another way," he said. "I accept that criticism, but I just don't think it's political because this community is suffering. This community is terrorized by people that are committing crimes with impunity, and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. All I'm trying to do is raise awareness. In my effort to apply public pressure to the DA's office, it is my hope that it would nudge them toward more prosecutions and to be harder on criminal defendants than they currently are."

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Brent Taylor requests investigation into Shelby Co. DA office, judge