Editor’s note: Shelby County Attorney Marlinee Iverson’s quotes have been updated and expanded for clarity. Also, bail numbers provided by Just City have been changed to reflect new information from the organization.

Two government officials are taking a “hard look” at the criminal justice system in Shelby County. 

Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright and state Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) both have pushed legislation to address bail, bail hearings, trial backlogs and more.

“This has been at the forefront of everyone’s mind in Memphis and Shelby County,” Wright said. “We’ve seen some horrible situations over the past year, especially.”

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Wright and Taylor gathered with media and other interested parties Thursday afternoon in front of the new bail hearing room on the second floor of the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center, 201 Poplar Ave.

The bail hearing room is part of a bail order, effective Feb. 15, that resulted from an agreement between the Shelby County government and local and national advocacy groups. 

The press conference was attended by some of the parties in the agreement, including Shelby County Attorney Marlinee Iverson and Just City court watch coordinator Yonee Gibson. Lead Judicial Commissioner John Marshall also was there. 

Wright proposed local legislation Wednesday in a County Commission committee meeting that calls for data transparency from the new bail practices. 

Wright said Thursday the commission agreed last year to provide $2 million in funding toward the bail hearing room if data was provided.

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Wright said commissioners requested data behind the initial bail screening process, including the total number of defendants being given bail, what their bail amounts are, how many are released and how many are released on condition.

Commissioners also wanted data on the bail hearing process, including the re-offending rate. 

Some data was provided to the commission during a March 29 committee meeting, including bail outcomes for misdemeanor and felony cases and the bail amounts set from Feb. 15 to March 15. An annual judicial commissioner program report was also provided. 

“We asked for six months of data,” Wright said. “So this is from September to February. We wanted all that information as a baseline before we changed anything. We needed to have baseline data. And so that was due to us by March 30. And we’ve not received any of that. So we really have no way to verify where things were before this was implemented.”

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Iverson said next week, she expects to give the commission data from Feb. 15 to the middle of May, which is the information Wright is seeking in his resolution. She anticipates that data will show that most people who have been able to bond out of jail have not re-offended, or committed another offense after the date of their bail setting.

“That is just a suspicion, and I’ve been wrong before,” she said.

Iverson also pointed out that a judge always has the prerogative to revisit bail – based on new charges that occurred either before or after the current bail was set. The DA’s office or a defense attorney also can request a bail review at any point during a criminal case.

Iverson thinks that changes in the bail system have led the general public to believe people are re-offending, as in committing crimes after making their bail, at a higher rate than before the Bail Hearing Room began.

She pointed to the case of Chase Harris as an example of someone who has not re-offended even as he’s been charged with more crimes after the widely publicized April 30 shooting at Huey’s in East Memphis. All of the other charges Harris is facing are for incidents that occurred prior to the shooting at Huey’s.

“It looks like people are re-offending,” Iverson said. “Really, they’re just catching up with prior charges.”

Data compiled by Just City shows the average bail amounts for people charged with violent offenses have risen from $84,385 to $92,182 since Feb. 17.

Meanwhile, bail amounts for low-level, non-violent offenses have decreased from $12,128 to $10,575.

Taylor sent a letter to Commission Chairman Mickell Lowery May 31 that said the new bail agreement is “mired in controversy.”

He said the memorandum of understanding that was agreed upon by the parties does not nullify any portion of the Tennessee statute, which mandates public hearings to examine the judicial commissioner program.

Taylor said people have a constitutional right to bail, but there must be a balance to it.

“We have to figure out how to balance the needs of the constitutional rights of the defendant to get access to bail against the right of the public to be able to be protected,” Taylor said.

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Gibson with Just City said she was “pleasantly surprised” by Wright’s statements and calls for data transparency, but she criticized Taylor’s discussion about how to “get around someone’s constitutional rights.” 

“Most of the things he said I do not feel like were based in any actual logic or data,” Gibson said. “And we’ve had punitive issues for years. We’ve had punitive solutions, and they haven’t worked. And it seems like his plan is to just make them longer.”

Wright also proposed legislation Wednesday that aims to address trial backlogs by bringing in prosecutorial and judicial assistance from assistant district attorneys and circuit judges throughout the state. The resolution also asks judges to consider mid-week trials. 

Wright also recently proposed a non-binding resolution in the County Commission, which was signed by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, that pushes state legislation regarding judicial commissioner duties to be enacted earlier. 

The resolution and law mandate that judicial commissioners, who set the initial bail for defendants, cannot set bail for people accused of class A and B felonies and aggravated assaults without the approval of a judge.

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The state law, which was proposed by Taylor, will become active July 1. 

“We, as a community, have had our patience tested, and it’s come back negative,” Taylor said. “We’re completely at our wits end when it comes to crime and this perceived revolving door that exists with the criminal justice system. And that’s what we’re all about trying to fix here.”