Tennessee Democrats are rallying to the defense of a Memphis prosecutor targeted for removal by state Republican leaders who accuse him of being soft on crime.
State lawmakers from both parties became involved after Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, a Democrat, floated a sentencing plan with no prison time for some people convicted of felony gun offenses.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton, Crossville Republican, said Mr. Mulroy provided his latest example of “kowtowing to criminals.”
State Sen. Brent Taylor, Shelby County Republican, said the district attorney was trying to “redefine what crime and punishment is in the state.”
Mr. Taylor said he plans to submit a resolution seeking the prosecutor’s ouster when the state General Assembly reconvenes later this year.
The speaker has talked with Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican, about potential steps to remove Mr. Mulroy.
Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, said diversionary sentencing can work in some circumstances and stopped short of backing calls for the ouster of Mr. Mulroy. Still, he warned that lax prosecution “is a really bad strategy for public safety.”
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said he supported the proposed removal because the district attorney was veering into unconstitutional territory.
Mr. Mulroy was elected in August 2022 after receiving campaign donations from left-wing billionaire George Soros.
Democrats say Republican concerns about the state’s top prosecutor are smokescreens to deflect from their own failures to ensure public safety.
“Republicans run virtually everything in the state of Tennessee,” Rep. John Ray Clemmons, Nashville Democrat and caucus chair for the state’s House Democrats, told The Washington Times. “One thing they have not controlled for less than two years is the district attorney’s office in Shelby County. Yet they want to place all blame for anything happening in Shelby County at the feet of the district attorney just because he’s a Democrat.”
Mr. Clemmons said neither Mr. Sexton nor Mr. Taylor outlined how Mr. Mulroy violated Tennessee law in a way that would qualify for his ouster.
Memphis has been mired in an 18-month-old crime wave, including a record 398 homicides last year.
The police department has recorded 145 homicides so far this year.
Mr. Mulroy said recently that he wanted to address racial disparities in punishments by giving prosecutors options for nonviolent offenders of gun laws.
The blowback was immediate. Just minutes before Mr. Taylor held a fiery press event last week directed at the district attorney, Mr. Mulroy announced he was dropping his sentencing reform idea. He said only a handful of people would have benefited from the initiative.
“He pulled it because I am on his a—, and he knows that we’re going to take this resolution, and he’ll be held accountable for his actions,” Mr. Taylor said during his press conference.
Mr. Mulroy said the push to remove him from office was “politics, pure and simple.” Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, whose district is based in Memphis, called it an “unconstitutional attack” that “sets a dangerous precedent.”
Mr. Clemmons, from Nashville, said talk about diversionary programs doesn’t come close to justifying a prosecutor’s removal from office.
“If they want to start removing people from office because of what they deem, or what others deemed to be, bad ideas, then God bless every one of them,” the representative said.
Mr. Taylor, whose district is based in Memphis’ eastern suburbs, accused the district attorney of “prosecutorial nullification” and of trying to circumvent the General Assembly by creating separate penalties for gun offenders.
The Shelby County Republican argued that the law doesn’t make a distinction between violent and nonviolent felons who are caught with guns, so creating a two-tiered punishment system was outside the prosecutor’s jurisdiction.
Mr. Taylor didn’t provide any examples Monday of “prosecutorial nullification” but last year called for an investigation into Mr. Mulroy over a commuted sentence for a death row inmate.
This month, he petitioned the attorney general to investigate an agreement between the U.S. Justice Department and the Shelby County district attorney’s office to no longer prosecute certain prostitution offenses.
Mr. Taylor accused the prosecutor of working with “restorative justice schemers” to try to rehabilitate convicts without acknowledging that “there are evil people who just want to commit crimes against other people.”
“If he wants to save souls, I would encourage him to resign, go join the ministry and save souls, but leave prosecution to those who are committed to a safe community and that work to do what they can to try to make people suffer consequences for the crimes they commit,” Mr. Taylor said.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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