MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There has been plenty of fallout from the abrupt dismissal of several employees by Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy. In all, seven assistant DAs were let go, along with two investigators.
Meanwhile, Mulroy is bringing in several new prosecutors – hires he says will bring more racial diversity to the office. A spokesperson told The Daily Memphian that four of the six new hires are African American. During the campaign, Mulroy promised to bring more racial diversity to the office – particularly among assistant and supervising attorneys.
And while Mulroy did not identify those who were dismissed, I’m told by a source that one of them is veteran prosecutor Reginald Henderson, who spent 31 years in the DA’s office. Henderson is African American and ran for a Criminal Court judgeship in August, losing by about 1,000 votes out of more than 115,000 votes cast. The source also told me that – like Henderson – many of those let go represent the most senior members of the district attorney staff, and the firings very likely are impacting criminal cases, some of which were already set for trial.
No one disputes that Mulroy has every right to hire and fire prosecutors as he sees fit. But there are legitimate questions to be asked and answered about whether the dismissals disrupted the legal process and created unnecessary chaos in an office that represents both law and order.