Attorney John Keith Perry discusses the case of Billy Ray Turner, who pleaded not guilty to charges in the killing of Lorenzen Wright.
Katie Fretland/The Commercial Appeal
The lawyer for a Shelby County man charged with killing Lorenzen Wright seven years ago said he has a lengthy process of investigating the case ahead of him and mentioned wiretapping and audio recordings as part the case file.
“I want to talk to every person who is mentioned in the investigatory file,” attorney John Keith Perry said Monday. “I think I count some 20,000 pages of investigation, different things, everything from audio recordings, wiretaps, all the way down to formal charges starting with Collierville Police Department all the way through Memphis Police Department. I’m going to go step by step, page by page.”
Turner’s charges came after police announced in November that a gun they believed was used in the killing was recovered in a Mississippi lake.
Surveillance video from Collierville Express Mart shows the arrest of Billy Ray Turner, a suspect in the death of NBA player and Memphis native Lorenzen Wright.
Linda Moore/The Commercial Appeal
According to an arrest report, witnesses identified Turner “as the person responsible for the murder.
The Multi-Agency Gang Unit saw him leave a house in the 4700 block of Waterfront Oak Drive — listed as his residence in an arrest report — get into a vehicle and travel to the Collierville Express Mart on U.S. 72. He was then arrested.
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Cameras crowd the jury box before the start of a hearing in Judge Lee Coffee’s courtroom for Billy Turner on charges in the slaying of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright. Turner pleaded not guilty. (Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)
Turner was indicted in December and pleaded not guilty. Later, a superseding indictment was returned against him adding charges and Sherra Wright as a codefendant. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in the superseding indictment on Monday. He is due back in court in March.
“He’s strong in faith,” Perry told reporters. “He has a strong mind. He’s holding up.”
Sherra Wright, the ex-wife of Lorenzen Wright, made her first Memphis court appearance on the charges last week.
The body of Wright, 34, was found in southeast Memphis in July 2010, and investigators found evidence of different caliber shell casings at the scene. Wright apparently called 911 shortly after midnight on July 19, 2010, from a field near TPC Southwind golf course.
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Billy Turner talks with his lawyer John Keith Perry before a hearing in Judge Lee Coffee’s courtroom on charges in the slaying of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright. Turner pleaded not guilty. (Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)
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Major Darren Goods, Operations Commander for the Multi-Agency Gang Unit, speaks during a press conference about the arrest of Sherra Wright, the ex-wife of slain former NBA player Lorenzen Wright.
Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal
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Sherra Wright-Robinson, ex-wife of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in connection to his 2010 death.
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