Local 24 is in Riverside, California, where the ex-wife of Lorenzen Wright made her first court appearance after being charged last week in the murder of the former Grizzlies player.
46-year-old Sherra Wright is charged with plotting with another man to kill Lorenzen Wright, and having a role in the basketball star’s murder in the summer of 2010.
Monday, a judge pushed Sherra Wright’s extradition hearing back to Wednesday, after her appointed public defender made a somewhat unique request. She appeared in a California court in a noticeably different condition compared to Friday, when U.S. Marshals took her into custody.
With all eyes upon her, deputies rolled a wheelchair-bound Sherra Wright to face a Riverside County, California, judge Monday morning.
With Wright’s wrists cuffed to that wheelchair, the judge agreed to her public defender’s requests to delay Wright’s extradition hearing until Wednesday, and get jail medical staff to examine her.
“I don’t know what led up to her being in a wheelchair,” said Riverside defense attorney Jeff Zimel. “It could be anything from something as easy as the stress of the situation, to some injury that occurred recently, maybe during the arrest process.”
Zimel isn’t tied to Wright’s extradition case, but oversees such hearings often. He said Wright will face two choices Wednesday; accept extradition and be returned to Memphis to face her charges within 30 days, or contend extradition and drag out her return to Shelby County for months longer.
“If you fight extradition, then this is what we call dead times, so you are not going to get any credit once you arrive back in the demanding state,” says Zimel. “We are just merely kind of serving this county as a holding agent, we are holding them for another state. I don’t think they are going to be wanting to put all the money, resources, and everything else into treatment when really she needs to be on the way back to the demanding state.”
“If you waive your right of the extradition process, you are usually transported quicker. If you fight the extradition process, then it can take months to play out,” says Zimel.
Sherra Wright did not have any family or friends when she made her first court appearance in California Monday morning.
Sunday, a woman at Wright’s Murrieta, California, home told Local 24 “all is well” and “we are praying” when asked how the family was doing.
Lorenzen and Sherra Wright had six children together, and two of their sons play high school basketball in Riverside area.
