Shelby County DA drops plans for diversion program after threats to remove him from office

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy will not pursue a diversion program for felons charged with possession of a weapon who do not have a history of violent offenses.

Mulroy's comments about the program, which he said was intended to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system, were met with sharp criticism from Tennessee Republicans and led to at least two elected officials saying they thought the DA should be removed from office because of the proposed policy.

"After taking a look at the actual number of cases which would qualify, I realize it would only be a handful of cases ― not enough to really help with racial disparities," Mulroy said in a news release Monday afternoon.

He added that he had also taken into consideration concerns from the public and that his office "will continue to work on ways to address racial disparities and continue to focus on violent crime."

The announcement came days after Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton told the USA TODAY Network - Tennessee that he was in conversations with Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti to consider seeking Mulroy's removal for “dereliction of his office.”

State Sen. Brent Taylor, a Republican representing portions of Shelby County, said Monday morning in a social media post that he planned to pursue legislation to remove Mulroy later in the year. Mulroy's announcement also came minutes before Taylor was set to discuss the resolution at a press conference.

Taylor's ouster resolution, which requires an independent two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate, would remove Mulroy from office if passed by both bodies. It would not, however, preclude him from running for office in the future. Officials can also be removed through impeachment proceedings, which would prevent someone from running for the same elected office if impeached.

Despite Mulroy saying he would not enact the diversion program prior to the press conference, Taylor said he planned to move forward with filing the ouster resolution when the November filing period begins.

"This ouster resolution was never about the diversion program, or about whether or not convicted felons should have access to firearms," Taylor said Monday afternoon. "It was about the DA's attempt to redefine what crime and punishment is in this state. He, through that diversion program, and I realize he's pulled it, but it speaks to a lot of what his mindset is and what he is attempting to do to our justice system here in Shelby County. And that is that he was looking to abuse his prosecutorial discretion and turn it into a prosecutorial nullification, that he was trying to circumvent the [Tennessee] General Assembly."

Though saying that the diversion program was not the reason for the ouster at points during the press conference, Taylor diverted questions asking for examples of Mulroy's alleged "prosecutorial nullification" and said "This resolution has to do with the diversion program on convicted felons in possession of firearms. It has nothing to do about some other crime that he may have said a year ago they are not going to prosecute."

When asked whether the Tennessee Constitution allowed for removing an elected official from office over a policy dispute, Taylor denied that the reason for promising to file the ouster resolution stemmed from a policy dispute. He, instead, said the problem is Mulroy trying to "prosecute laws based on how he wishes the law read, not as it's actually written."

Following the press conference, Mulroy issued a statement calling the resolution "politics, pure and simple."

"We were No. 1 in the country for violent crime for years before I took office," Mulroy said in the statement. "To further public safety, we've refocused on violent crime with our V11 initiative, our aggravated assault policy and other things. We prosecute over 3,000 violent cases every year, including over 1,000 'felon in possession' cases, and there's been no lessening since I took office."

In addition to a statement from Mulroy, DA Frederick Agee — a Republican who represents Crockett, Gibson and Haywood counties — voiced support for Mulroy remaining in office, and for using discretion with cases.

"DAs have discretion to prosecute or not prosecute, and exercise it all the time," Agee said in the statement. "DAs are separate and independent from legislators, so our decisions are not political, and have to use limited resources to protect the community. General Mulroy has used his discretion to focus on violent crime. I'm confident General Mulroy and his top-notch assistants are doing what needs to be done to remove violent offenders from Shelby County."

Agee was the attorney that prosecuted now-former Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd earlier this year.

Senate minority leader Raumesh Akbari and Sen. London Lamar, two Memphis Democrats, issued a joint statement about Taylor's planned ouster resolution, calling it an "unconstitutional attack."

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"This unconstitutional attack on Shelby County's district attorney sets a dangerous precedent," the two senators said. "It looks like every local official is now on notice to not cross powerful state politicians — or else. Memphians are sick and tired of seeing their local elected officials run over by state politics just for doing the job they promised to do. Crime did not start with the new Shelby County District Attorney and it is beneath the legislature to threaten local officials over a policy debate. It's going to take all of us working together to prevent crime and make our neighborhoods safe, but we can assure you this: attacking local voters and the leaders they elect is not the way forward."

The diversion program would have led to less severe punishments for felons caught with guns in Shelby County who do not have a prior history of violent offenses and are facing nonviolent gun possession charges. Last week, Mulroy said the program was meant to focus more on rehabilitation instead of incarceration.

"It wasn't a formal program or policy, just allowing prosecutors case by case discretion for nonviolent defendants who never used a gun and who seemed reformable," Mulroy said Monday.

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

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TN Shelby County DA drops plans for controversial diversion program