Data Transparency: Partnering with Justice Innovation Lab
This week, we announced that the SCDAG Office is entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with national reform group Justice Innovation Lab (JIL) to enhance data transparency in our office.
The MOU is the culmination of months of preliminary meetings and consultations between JIL and our staff. Composed of former prosecutors and data analysis experts, JIL is a leading organization for data-driven prosecution. JIL's consulting fees will be paid for with privately raised funds.
Under the MOU, JIL experts will "embed" within our office for 12-18 months, reviewing data and interviewing staff. JIL will help clean up the office's data, show staff how to use it in evaluating office performance, and ultimately help design a public-facing "data dashboard" on the DA’s office website.
"Increasing data transparency is something I've been talking about since the start of my campaign," said DA Steve Mulroy. "I'm pleased to have national experts who specialize in this area to help us use data to measure performance, drive decision making, and let the public hold the system accountable."
Continuing to Build the Team
We're still growing. Last week, ADAs Ernest Beasley (Team 2), Shannon Mason (DUI Unit), and Brandi L. Heiden (Juvenile Court) were sworn in. Pictured right: Judge Lee V. Coffee with DA Mulroy and new hires Ernest Beasley and Brandi L. Heiden at their swearing-in.
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Working with the Innocence Project
Last week Monday, we had a special visitor to the office: notable attorney and Director of the Innocence Project, Barry Scheck (pictured right with DA Mulroy). We discussed the potential for DNA testing of evidence in the case of Sedley Alley, who was executed by the State of TN in 2006 for the brutal rape and murder of Suzanne Collins. His daughter, April Alley, filed a petition for DNA testing which was denied by the Shelby County Criminal Court in 2019, even though the TN Supreme Court admitted its basis for denying testing in 2006, before Mr. Alley’s execution, was wrong and overruled it several years later in State v. Powers. Working with organizations like the Innocence Project to ensure that no innocent person is wrongfully convicted is not only the right thing to do, but necessary for public safety; if the wrong person is executed, then the real perpetrator is still walking the streets.
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Convictions and Indictments
Last week, Special Victims Unit prosecutors Devon Dennis and Lessie Rainey won a Guilty as Charged verdict against a defendant accused of Rape of a Child and Aggravated Sexual Battery. We are thankful for these skilled and compassionate ADAs who put in the hard work to try and win difficult cases like this.
DA Mulroy presented opening remarks at the weeklong Trial Advocacy Course for new prosecutors, sponsored by the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, at the University of Memphis Law School.
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Thank you Hennepin County DA Victim Witness Unit
In a generous (and delicious) gesture of solidarity, the staff of the Victim/Witness Unit in Hennepin, County, Minneapolis (the unit that worked on the George Floyd case) sent cookies to our very own Victim Witness Unit. I am proud of the professionalism and grace with which our Victim Witness Unit, and all of our staff, have handled the many challenges (increased media presence, national attention, and protests) during the initial days and weeks of the investigation and charging of the officers accused of Tyre Nichols’ death.
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Stay safe and thank you for your support,
 Steve Mulroy
District Attorney
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