Republican District Attorney Amy Weirich, whose tough-on-crime strategy stirred controversy within the Memphis space for over a decade, misplaced her reelection bid for Shelby County’s prime prosecutor.
Democrat Steven Mulroy, a regulation professor on the University of Memphis who ran on a reform-minded platform that included bail reforms, triumphed with greater than 55% of the vote as of Thursday night time.
Mulroy stated that Weirich conceded within the race in a Twitter post.
Mulroy’s candidacy was backed by native progressives within the space who’re searching for a change within the county’s prison justice system, primarily within the county seat of Memphis.
Weirich presided over a pointy rise in violent crime lately; Memphis had the nation’s ninth-highest homicide price in 2019 and set a report for homicides in 2020. This might have swayed voters who had been turned off by a scarcity of outcomes — even when they purchased into her punitive prosecutorial strategy.
During her marketing campaign, Weirich stated she didn’t “apologize for being tough on crime.” Over the years, Weirich refused to carry prison costs towards cops in several high-profile shootings — even in circumstances the place officers had been fired and reprimanded for violating division insurance policies.
In distinction, Weirich engaged in an overzealous prosecution of Pam Moses, a Black activist in Memphis, for making an attempt to register to vote regardless of a felony report. (Moses says native election officers informed her she may register.) Moses was initially sentenced to 6 years in jail, however The Guardian revealed earlier this 12 months that the Tennessee Department of Correction improperly held again proof within the case. Weirich dropped the fees not lengthy after.
Weirich has additionally touted “Truth in Sentencing” legal guidelines that will enhance jail time for sure violent offenses, which grew to become a major issue within the marketing campaign.
Mulroy ran adverts making an attempt to tie Weirich to former President Donald Trump, which possible aided his marketing campaign in a closely Democratic metropolis. Weirich ran adverts searching for to painting Mulroy as an excessive liberal; one included footage of Mulroy rallying with unionizing Starbucks staff and accused him of favoring the “defund the police” motion.
Mulroy pushed again on the “defund” label in a latest debate, however didn’t draw back from his help for the Starbucks staff.
“It’s absolutely correct that the TV commercial crops and doctors a photo of me at the Starbucks rally where I was rallying to defend workers who had been fired for unionizing,” he said. “Contrary to what you’ve just heard, I’ve never advocated for [defunding police], what I have advocated for…is hiring more police, spending more money on training, or money on recruiting, because that’s what helps with actual crime.”
A latest report from HuffPost described how former prosecutors in her workplace had been upset by heavy workloads and bristled at her tough-on-crime strategy. Mulroy will turn into district legal professional after Weirich’s time period ends on Sept. 1. Shelby County holds uncommon late-summer basic elections.
