SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy reacting on Thursday to criticism his office has faced for the release on his own recognizance of an 18-year-old accused of murder.
Mulroy said Thursday his office wanted a $75,000 bond for Edio White, the 18-year-old accused of murder, but it was Judge Bill Anderson’s call to release him on his own recognizance.
“We disagreed with the decision but we do respect it,” Mulroy said. "The person involved didn't have a record, was enrolled in community college and had people in the community vouching for him. Again, we still thought a bond and an enrollment in Memphis Allies was still the appropriate disposition."
He made the comments at a multi-day innovation summit to reduce crime in the Bluff City. A main goal of the summit is to make data a bigger part of their decision making, and Mulroy sees opportunities to do just that.
“Cases take too long to be resolved. We need to do a better job of measuring time to disposition at different phases and figuring out where the bottlenecks are and where we can speed things up,” he said.
Mulroy also commented on the surge of downtown break-ins and robberies. He says law enforcement shut down a major theft ring already, but copycat groups have quickly sprung up.
"My hope is that we can get MPD to get more involved in that task force effort to refocus resources on that,” he said.
Downtown Memphians on Thursday were grateful for any effort to help reduce crime.
“I wouldn’t just go anywhere in any foreign place by myself, but in these close quarters where I have friends and family around I feel safe,” said Andrea Hardy, who is visiting Memphis for Saturday's St. Jude Marathon. "It does make me feel better there are people out here trying to make it safer for everybody."
As part of this summit, a competition was held to come up with new solutions to help curb crime. One idea that Mulroy believes will work is a plan for more comprehensive GPS monitoring of offenders.
Mulroy said it would come in handy in this exact sort of scenario with the 18-year-old that was released on bond.