Flanked by supporters such as County Mayor Lee Harris, former state Representative Jeannie Richardson, and City Councilman Dr. Jeff Warren, Steve Mulroy formally unveiled his bid for the Democratic nomination for District Attorney General before a large audience at the IBEW union headquarters on Madison Avenue on Thursday.
Mulroy, a University of Memphis law professor whose political pedigree includes two terms as a Shelby County Commissioner, a run for county mayor, and innumerable involvements on behalf of justice reform and voting reform, put it this way:
“Let me tell you why it is that I’m running, or at least a few of the reasons why I’m running. My philosophy is simple. Every person who breaks the law must be held accountable. Now that’s the case if you’re a street criminal, but it’s particularly the case if you are a violent criminal. But unfortunately, every year in Shelby County since our incumbent DA has taken office, violent crime in Shelby County has risen and risen and risen. And it’s gotten to the point where as of today, there was an online article that was published showing how, according to FBI crime statistics, the most dangerous city to live in the United States is Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis metropolitan area is the most dangerous, measured by violent crime. What I conclude from that is, the policies we’ve been pursuing for the past 11 years are not working. They are not making us safe. We need change.”
Those introductory words were followed by a sally against incumbent Republican D.A. Amy Weirich: “Now, I said a moment ago, that if you break the law, you need to be held accountable. That is just as true for law enforcement. A prosecutor who withholds evidence and breaks other rules and gets convictions overturned time and time again … needs to be held accountable not just by the courts, but by the voters of this county, in the county that is the highest for convictions overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct.
“We live in a county where the incumbent District Attorney has been personally called out for such misconduct by the Tennessee Supreme Court by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and by the ethics panel of the Tennessee bar. All three of those are extremely rare occurrences but they happen here in Shelby County. That’s not making Shelby County safer. … If you get convictions overturned because your prosecutors are breaking the rules, that’s what’s making us less safe. If you fight and convict the wrong people … it’s not only unjust, but it’s making us affirmatively less safe, because that means that the real criminal’s still out on the streets.”
Priorities mentioned by Mulroy included a conviction review unit like one now operating in Davidson County, an emphasis on justice rather than simply winning verdicts, sequestration of juveniles from adult offenders, and reform of what he called “bail inflation,” one of several versions of over-incarceration he found fault with in the incumbent.
Having made the case that violent crime has risen every year of the incumbent’s 11-year tenure so far, Mulroy was dismissive of her argument in a speech last week that much of the problem stemmed from over-permissive gun legislation passed by the legislature in Nashville.
“First of all,” said Mulroy, “every prosecutor, every law enforcement official, have always taken a position that Tennessee needs to be tougher on gun ownership. And I agree with that, right? We don’t have a difference of opinion there. But we can’t blame the rise in crime in Shelby County solely on that, because if you take a look at the statistics, the rise in crime started several years before that law was passed. It’s been a consistent pattern, both before and after the law was passed. And I don’t think it explains why we’re number one in the country for violent crime. So while we can all work together across the aisle to get more sensible gun legislation, I don’t think that means that we give the incumbent a pass on what is happening every day when you just look out, particularly in African American neighborhoods.”
In essence, Mulroy maintained that his policies would make criminal justice in Shelby County both fairer and safer.
