MEMPHIS, Tenn. —A Shelby County judge has denied a motion submitted by the defense to suppress certain evidence that’s set to be presented in the upcoming Lorenzen Wright murder trial.
Sherra Wright’s defense filed a motion in February asking that wire-tapped conversations between their client and co-defendant Billy Turner be excluded at trial, claiming there was not enough probable cause for the wire tap in the first place.
According to the prosecution, investigators were granted a wire tap shortly after Lorenzen Wright’s murder, but it didn’t lead to any significant evidence. Several years later, investigators met with a man named Jimmy Martin, who admitted to being involved in the NBA star’s death. Prosecutors said he knew details about the crime that were never released to the public and even told investigators where to find the murder weapon.
A dive team went to that location and recovered a gun that the prosecution claims is indeed the murder weapon.
At the time, Martin also told investigators that Lorenzen Wright’s former wife and Turner were involved in the murder.
In November 2017, a second application for a wire tap was submitted and a Shelby County judge signed off on it.
The defense argued that there wasn’t enough probable cause for the judge to sign off on that search warrant and asked that the officer who wrote the original application be brought forward to testify so they could hear his reasoning for the application.
They also claimed that Martin was the one who killed Lorenzen Wright.
The judge ultimately denied the request saying there was certainly enough probable cause.
The pair went before a judge earlier this week for a motion hearing, but this issue was pushed back to Thursday as a certain witness was not available to speak before the court.
During that motion hearing, we also learned that the defense had withdrawn it’s motion for a change of venue in the case. They originally argued that the pair wouldn’t get a fair trial in Memphis and asked a judge to call jurors from Davidson County. Attorneys said they withdrew that request because they realized it would be impossible to prove they couldn’t get a fair trial anywhere closer to Memphis.