Trial to begin in slaying of former NBA player in Memphis
MEMPHIS, Tenn. –
Jury choice was set to start Monday within the trial of a person charged with killing former NBA participant Lorenzen Wright, whose physique was present in a swampy subject practically 12 years in the past in Memphis, Tennessee.
Billy Ray Turner has pleaded not responsible to fees of first-degree homicide and conspiracy, and will face life in jail if convicted.
Opening statements in Turner’s trial might lastly reveal key particulars about Wright’s slaying, one of the extremely publicized homicide circumstances in Memphis historical past. His decomposing physique was discovered riddled with bullet wounds in east Memphis on July 28, 2010. Wright, 34, had been lacking for 10 days earlier than his physique was found.
A Memphis native, the 6-foot, 11-inch Wright performed 13 seasons for the Memphis Grizzlies and 4 different NBA groups, after taking part in school basketball on the College of Memphis. He was retired from the league when he was killed.
Turner and Wright’s ex-wife, Sherra Wright, have been charged in December 2017 within the killing. She entered a shock responsible plea to facilitation of homicide in July 2019 and Decide Lee Espresso sentenced her to 30 years in jail.
Turner, a convicted felon, was sentenced to 16 years in jail for possessing two weapons on the time of his 2017 arrest. One other gun police mentioned was the homicide weapon in Wright’s killing was present in a north Mississippi lake about two months earlier than Turner and Sherra Wright have been charged and arrested.
Witnesses mentioned Sherra Wright masterminded a plan to have two males kill her ex-husband at his dwelling in Atlanta, however that try failed, in response to an affidavit.
She and Turner then conspired to kill him in Memphis, authorities have mentioned. Turner, a landscaper within the Memphis suburb of Collierville, and Sherra Wright attended the identical church.
She later obtained $1 million from her ex-husband’s life insurance coverage coverage, and settled a courtroom dispute in 2014 over how she spent the insurance coverage cash meant to profit their six youngsters, The Industrial Attraction has reported.
Prosecutor Paul Hagerman mentioned the trial was anticipated to take per week to 10 days.
“I think about will probably be a protracted, arduous trial,” he mentioned.
The jury might be sequestered and potential jurors might be requested if that they had adopted the case within the media, Hagerman mentioned.
