Judge says release of teen in officer shooting ‘appropriate’

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The killing of a Memphis Police Officer has many questioning where the ball dropped. The 18-year-old involved in the shooting was let out of jail on his own recognizance just weeks before the deadly incident.

Suspect dead after shootout with police had been arrested, released in March, records show

Now Judge Bill Anderson, Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor, and District Attorney Steve Mulroy are all pointing fingers.

Jaylen Lobley was killed in a gun battle that also killed Memphis Police Officer Joseph McKinney last Friday. This was after Lobley was arrested for possessing a Glock turned into a machine gun and for confessing to stealing cars.

Judicial Commissioner Chris Ingram released the teen on his own recognizance.

Judge Bill Anderson, who has supervised all Judicial Commissioners, says Judicial Commissioner Ingram followed the law.

“All that is sitting in front of the Commissioner is he admitted to stealing cars. Well maybe he did but maybe he didn’t. Maybe he did it under coercion. That’s all to be considered in the future. But yes, that is one consideration in setting bail,” Judge Anderson said. “At the end of the day, it was his personal decision, not personal thoughts. His personal decision based on weighing all the factors in front of him, that recognizance release with conditions was appropriate.”

Anderson says there is a lot of blame to go around that has nothing to do with the courts.

“Would you have made that decision as a Judge? Don’t know. Wasn’t my case,” Judge Anderson said. “It’s open season for 18 to 21-year-olds. That’s what happened. That is where the blame is. The legislature needs to make some changes so these 18-year-old kids, can’t have that easy access to weapons.”

Memphis Police officer and suspect dead after shootout; multiple officers injured

But Senator Taylor says otherwise.

“You could pass all the gun restrictions that you want, and you could take guns out of law-abiding citizens’ hands, and it will do nothing to remove the guns from criminals who want to use them for evil purposes,” Senator Taylor said.

Senator Taylor is weighing a law to get rid of Judicial Judges altogether in Shelby County.

“Will that make the process even more backlogged? Well, it would require the judges to get off their *** and go to work,” Senator Taylor said. “Decisions like these are life and death decisions, and they need to be made by people who are accountable to the electorate.”

He says a study shows the county is over judged and having Judges take on the work Judicial Commissioners do may be better.

Lobley also had no prior cases as an adult before March.

“He had no prior criminal record that was in the paperwork in his court jacket,” Judge Anderson said. “Police officers may have said we know this kid from the neighborhood, we’ve arrested him 10 times as a juvenile. Well, I am sorry we can’t consider that.”

He says the commissioners don’t have access to any juvenile’s record. That’s another thing Brent Taylor is pushing to change.

“Had Judge been able to look into the juvenile record of this defendant, perhaps he could have made a different decision that the defendant shouldn’t have been released on his own recognizance,” Senator Taylor said.

Judge Anderson also says the District Attorney could have pushed stronger for a higher bond at each phase of Lobley’s court hearings.

Teens involved in police shooting had juvenile records

Steve Mulroy’s office says they didn’t request a higher bond for Lobley but did argue against him being released on his own recognizance. Their push to have him tried federally came after his hearing so the Judge would not have known about that when he considered bond.

Senator Taylor also says he is sponsoring a law requiring pre-trial services to monitor bail conditions, so they would have known that Lobley was breaking curfew.

Another proposed law would eliminate the ability to pay as a factor when considering bail.

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