Sherra Wright’s bond set at $20 million
Bond for Sherra Wright was set at $20 million on Wednesday by Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee, who cited among other factors her questionable behavior and the high likelihood of conviction.
Coffee gave significant weight to Sherra Wright’s behavior Tuesday at Shelby County Jail East where she stripped naked and stuffed her clothes in the toilet trying to flood her cell, saying she was “going swimming, y’all.”
Sherra Wright and co-defendant Billy Ray Turner are charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit firstdegree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the 2010 death of her exhusband, NBA star Lorenzen Wright.
Both have pleaded not guilty. The
motive for the killing was a $1 million insurance policy, prosecutors said.
The report of Tuesday’s events at Jail East — submitted into evidence by prosecutor Paul Hagerman — stated Sherra Wright caused a “verbal riot,” cursed at guards, refused to comply with their orders and was slow to comply when she did.
It’s behavior defense attorney Blake Ballin attributed to her “deteriorating mental health.”
For Coffee, Sherra Wright’s failure to conduct herself appropriately while in custody indicates she would be a danger to Shelby County if released.
Deborah Marion, Lorenzen Wright’s mother, wasn’t surprised.
“That’s Sherra. All eyes on her,” Marion said.
When Sherra Wright entered the courtroom, she mouthed to Marion, “I didn’t do it.”
“That’s just attention,” Marion said of the woman she’s known for 20 years.
Earlier this month, bond for Turner was set at $15 million.
Sherra Wright’s bond was higher, as Coffee called her the “linchpin” behind the plot that resulted in Lorenzen’s Wright’s death.
Ballin and co-counsel Steve Farese Jr. asked the court for a $100,000 bond, listing their client’s ties to the community and saying she would live with her brother, Julius Robinson. Because she is indigent, they said, any bond would be difficult to make. No one testified on her behalf. They won’t appeal the bond issue, Farese said outside the courtroom, because even if it were lowered to $2 million or $500,000, the likelihood of her making bail “is not great.”
During Turner’s bond hearing, prosecutors named a third person in the conspiracy: Jimmie Martin, a cousin of Sherra Wright’s and the person who provided information that led to recovery of a gun allegedly used in the killing. The weapon had been dumped in a Mississippi lake.
Hagerman read that document again Wednesday, which included the revelation that other member’s of Sherra Wright’s family knew about the plot to kill Lorenzen Wright.
“The people that knew about it could have told some of us and maybe it could have been stopped,” Marion said after the hearing.
But she’s glad that they have since come forward. As the case continues, she plans to focus on her grandchildren.
Ballin said the prosecution’s case is based on Martin, a convicted killer and a known liar, who has provided conflicting statements during the investigation.
Martin, 35, was convicted in 2012 of second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, Martha Jean Bownes, and is serving a 20-year sentence. Martin was acquitted on a first-degree murder charge in 2009. The jury deadlocked on a second-degree charge and Martin was out on bond between trials when Lorenzen Wright, 34, was killed.
The affidavit read by Hagerman revealed extensive details in the plan to kill Lorenzen Wright, including a failed attempt at his Atlanta condominium in April 2010. The co-conspirators found an unknown man sleeping on Lorenzen Wright’s couch and aborted their plan.
Lorenzen and Sherra, high school sweethearts, were married for 13 years, had seven children and together buried a young daughter.
Lorenzen Wright graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, played basketball at the University of Memphis and spent 13 years in the NBA, including a stint with the Memphis Grizzlies. He earned an estimated $50 million during his career.
He was visiting from Atlanta when he was reported him missing on July 18, 2010. His badly decomposed body was found nine days later in a field in southeast Memphis near the TPC Southwind golf course.
Lorenzen Wright made a 911 call seconds before he was shot, but the call went to Germantown. Although the 911 operator heard multiple gunshots, it was days before the call was reported.
An autopsy showed Lorenzen Wright was shot in the head, chest and forearm.
Despite rewards offered through CrimeStoppers and pleas from the family, the case remained cold for years until a tip in 2016 lead to the discovery of the alleged murder weapon in a lake in Walnut, Mississippi.
Turner was arrested on Dec. 5, 2017, by the Multi-Agency Gang Unit at a Collierville convenience store. Sherra Wright was apprehended in Riverside, California, ten days later and extradited to Memphis.The two attended the same church in Collierville, where Turner served as a deacon.
Sherra Wright and Turner return to court July 11.