What’s delaying criminal court cases, post-COVID

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When the pandemic hit, criminal court shut down and thousands of cases were put on hold. Four years later, Shelby county is still digging itself out of a giant backlog.

One of those cases is the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Jordyn Washington, which happened in November 2020.

Police say Cedric Conley fired an assault-style rifle at a group he was arguing with in a Raleigh apartment complex. One of the bullets reportedly pierced through a kitchen and struck Jordyn.

Jordyn was Jasen Washington’s youngest child.

“She was my baby. That was my everything right there,” he said.

Police captured Conley in New Orleans two weeks later.

Three months after that, he got out on a half-million-dollar bond. Since then, there have been been dozens of report dates and a new judge.

Washington didn’t think it would take this long to get some kind of justice.

“For sure, no. If you talk to the DA and certain people, I have voice how irritated I am with that process,” he said.

On March 7, Conley reported to court again.

“As time passes, I lose trial dates,” Criminal Court Judge Carlyn Addison said to both parties.

She said she is ready to resolve the case that’s now more than three years old.

“We’ve had everything ready. We did not get ballistics back from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is an ongoing problem through COVID, since COVID and now,” Conley’s attorney Michael Scholl explained.

He said they just got the ballistic evidence back.

“Until we had the evidence, we really couldn’t talk,” he said.

He said that talk is expected to happen before Conley is back in court in April. If it doesn’t, Judge Addison proposed a trial date for this summer, but November was the only time that worked for both parties.

This case is just another case waiting to be resolved. COVID shut down the courts, which created a massive backlog as crime also increased.

It worsened delays that were already a concern in the justice system.

Judge: Lack of trials keeping criminal courts backlogged

“Everybody has questioned why it took five years to get here, and we have too,” Brittney Rowe said.

She had hoped to see a trial in December, but instead, one of the men accused of killing her father, Phil Trenary, five years ago, accepted a plea deal for a lesser charge.

COVID delayed the case, then his attorney took a job for the district attorney’s office, and the defense filed motions, which stalled the case even more.

Right before the trial, prosecutors were trying to track down a main witness who was suddenly released from jail on another case.

“It really was a series of unfortunate events,” Rowe said.

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Many working within the system say the longer the case takes, the more likely something happens that makes it harder for the prosecutor like a witness no longer wanting to participate.

It delays justice for victims and jeopardizes the defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial. It also poses a public safety threat with so many defendants walking free until their case is resolved.

As crime increased, the backlog has entered the spotlight. Fingers are being pointed. Threats are being made.

Scholl said one issue that’s made it worse, the turnaround times for crucial evidence like drug testing and ballistics on homicide cases.

All evidence in Shelby County is sent to a state lab, 90 miles away, in Jackson, Tenn.

Since 2019, WREG Investigators told you that evidence was taking months to process and slowing down the judicial system.

In 2022, the delays made headlines yet again when Eliza Fletcher, a Memphis mother and teacher, was kidnapped and killed.

The suspect was accused of a sexual assault from the year before, but due to the backlog, the TBI said it didn’t test the rape kit or connect the dots until it was too late.

Around that time, it was taking up to 15 months to process certain evidence.

After that, The TBI finally got some of the funding it’s requested for years and took steps to speed things up like outsourcing and hiring more people. Three new hires expected to start at the Jackson lab soon. However, it takes time to train the new hires.

As of January, the TBI reports on average, a six-month turnaround time to process forensic biology in violent crimes, four to six months for rape kits and almost 16 months for firearms analysis.

A spokesperson stating, they “expect gradual progress” as more of the new hires “work toward completing their required training.”

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy has repeatedly called on the state to fund another crime lab in Memphis that would include rapid DNA and ballistic testing. He said it will help move cases a lot faster.

Local leaders call for crime lab in Memphis

The Memphis City Council talked about a study to see if it’s feasible and local state lawmakers filed a bill to also try to get a study done. Meaning if it happens, it’ll be years from now.

That doesn’t help the families like Washington’s who are still waiting for some kind of closure.

“You try to heal. You don’t,” he said.

They say Jordyn made you want to be a better person, and in her 8 short years, she left a mark.

“She came down here and did what she was supposed to do. In the worst times of her life, she was happy. She will literally teach you how to live,” Washington said.

► This is Part 1 of a three-part investigation into the backlog of criminal cases in Shelby County, and what’s being done about it.
Part 2 will focus on the data and local leaders’ reaction

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