MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A group of people fighting for justice for former Memphis Grizzlies and Tigers player Lorenzen Wright hosted a vigil at his grave site Saturday morning and marched more than four miles, calling for justice.
Even though Wright’s ex-wife has been convicted in his murder and another man is awaiting trial, they say it’s not enough.
Nine years after the former basketball star was shot to death, the pain is still fresh for his friends and family.
“Whoever was involved, I wanna see everybody, you know, they need to pay for what they did,” Wright’s sister Savia Archie said. “He didn’t deserve that.”
The rally was organized by J Project, a national group that claims to use prophetic communication with God to solve cold cases.
“Lorenzen Wright’s spirit came to me the very day that his body was found, and he made himself aware to me and started giving me very, very specific and vivid details of what happened to him and who did this,” founder Abigail Noel said.
Noel said she gave that information to police eight years ago, but her leads were ignored.
“This case was covered up from the beginning; the family could have had justice in 2011, period,” she said. “Everything that I said has now been validated in this case.”
She and Wright’s family argue his ex-wife, Sherra Wright, got off easy after taking a plea deal in July and being sentenced to just 30 years.
“That wasn’t enough time,” Archie said. “And still, she got charged with facilitation of murder; she wasn’t charged with murder. So who’s gonna be charged with murder?”
Loved ones and J Project also take issue with the fact that only Sherra Wright and her alleged accomplice, Billy Ray Turner, have faced consequences in his murder, even though police have admitted there were more people involved.
“But only two people are being held accountable, and they want to call that justice,” Noel said. “That’s not justice by God’s standards; I don’t care what the court says.”
Turner was in court earlier this week. A trial date is expected to be set when he faces a judge again next month.
