MEMPHIS, TN – Sherra Wright has been in jail since her arrest in California in December.
Wednesday morning her attorneys present their case on why she should be let out of jail on bond as she waits for her trial to start in Memphis.
“We are going to want to show Judge Coffee that she has enough connections to this community and a place to stay here, so that will be part of our presentation,” says Sherra’s attorney Blake Ballin.
Bond hearings usually include testimony from people who can vouch for a person’s character.
Attorneys aren’t saying who they will put on the stand, but WREG has learned a close friend of Sherra’s even before she was married to Lorenzen Wright has said she will testify.
Then there is family.
Several of Sherra’s relatives, including an incarcerated cousin, have already talked to police about what they saw and heard during the time before and after Lorenzen’s death.
One cousin admitted to being there during the planning.
Another told police Sherra pointed to where the body would be found the day before Lorenzen was discovered shot to death.
They are expected to testify for the prosecution.
But Sherra’s attorney says there are family members who are standing by her, though none has talked to the media.
“I don`t know that they are in a position a lot of these family members to speak out right now,” said Ballin.
WREG has been told Sherra’s oldest son Lorenzen Junior, has been to visit her in jail. But whether he testifies remains to be seen.
Another name that first surfaced when Sherra’s co-defendant Billy Turner was arrested was the babysitter Sherra used for the kids, Janice Taylor.
Taylor’s family told WREG she had nothing to do with the case.
But in court, prosecutors made a link after tapping Sherra and Billy Turner’s cell phones once police announced they had found the gun that killed Lorenzen.
“Turner placed an outgoing call to Janice Taylor determined by investigators to be T.J. Janice Taylor then put Sherra Wright on the phone,” said Prosecutor Paul Hagerman, as he read from a court document.
“During the conversation, Sherra Wright tells Billy Turner she wants to show him something. They agreed to meet at Janice Taylor’s house. Investigators recognized the meeting was arranged using third party phones in an effort to conceal their contact with one another.”
It may be a conversation that comes back to haunt Sherra Wright.
By law she is allowed bond.
But after the judge gave her co-defendant a $15 million bond, there is plenty of talk on how high Sherra’s might be.
All the more reason her character witnesses could play a big part.
Ballin says there will be people who vouch for her and testify on her behalf.
Sherra’s attorneys also have to show she has a place to stay if she is released on bond. They say her brother has offered his home. We will see if that brother is in court Wednesday morning at the Criminal Justice Center.
