This story was updated on May 27, 2025, with the correct spelling of Tyré Nichols name.
As he faces an effort to oust him from office, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy has been accused of, among other things, offering too many plea deals and dismissing too many cases. In public comments, opinion pieces and on social media, critics — often associated with the Republican Party of Shelby County and State Sen. Brent Taylor — have used individual cases to argue that the DA gives a “mere slap on the wrist” to people who commit property crimes and that his office has a “‘record amount’ of dismissals.”
But a review by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism of case dispositions, or outcomes, in Shelby County Criminal Court from fiscal years 2011 through 2024 shows that Mulroy’s outcomes are consistent with trends carrying back through the tenure of his predecessor, Republican Amy Weirich.
While Mulroy, a Democrat, saw more dismissals, more acquittal trials and fewer conviction trials in his first full fiscal year in office (2024) than Weirich’s last full year (2022), the changes are consistent with jumps and decreases throughout Weirich’s tenure.
The county fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.
And, experts say, deciding how to best prosecute a case — or whether to prosecute it at all — is an essential part of the role of district attorney, something referred to as prosecutorial discretion.
“Discretion is, in my mind, it’s the most valuable part of a prosecutor’s job, and in exercising discretion, (Mulroy) is doing absolutely nothing that his predecessors did not do,” said Kevin Rardin, an attorney who retired from working for Mulroy in early August. Previously, Rardin served under four other district attorneys in Shelby County, including Weirich. “(Mulroy) may be making choices that are somewhat different. But he is the elected district attorney.”
The data MLK50 examined gives a limited view into Mulroy’s time in office since it includes only one court (traffic cases, for example, flow through a different court). And Mulroy is just one of many players — including judges, defense lawyers and the parties themselves — who impact the outcome of a case.
Yet, considering those limitations, the data does provide a high-level picture of outcomes for the categories of cases Mulroy has received the most criticism over, particularly violent crimes and property offenses.
During the 2021 district attorney’s race, Mulroy made his case to voters by promising to focus resources on violent crime, launch a conviction review unit and seek “cost-effective prosecution.”
Allison Pierre, a former prosecutor who is the founder and CEO of Innovative Prosecution Consulting, said a community should judge a prosecutor’s effectiveness based on what that community wants to see accomplished, including whether the district attorney is keeping promises made on the campaign trail.
“I think looking at case outcomes is fair because you do want a holistic view of are these cases being handled fairly and consistently in terms of the decision making,” Pierre said. “But what’s more important is whatever the electeds said they were going to do when they got elected, is that actualized? Can the electeds showcase that they’re delivering on their campaign promises?”
How we analyzed the data
MLK50 analyzed the disposition of Shelby County Criminal Court cases from fiscal year 2011 (Weirich served the second half of that year) through the end of fiscal year 2024, the first full year with Mulroy as district attorney. Mulroy also served all but the first two months of fiscal year 2023.
Most of the data is available publicly online, and MLK50 received the data for fiscal year 2024, which ended June 30, through a public records request. The Administrative Office of the Courts also provided MLK50 with corrected data from 2017 through 2020 since the reports posted online were impacted by a switch to a new case management system.
The data shows that the number of Shelby County Criminal Court cases disposed of each year fluctuates but has trended downward since at least 2011. In 2011, for example, the court disposed of 29,965 cases, while it disposed of 19,852 cases in 2017 and 17,223 in 2024.
MLK50 excluded data for cases transferred or remanded to another court.
Fiscal years 2020 and 2021 were partially impacted by court closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MLK50 organized the data into spreadsheets, sorted by year, and then grouped the offenses into three categories: violent, property and other.
“Overall case volume and dispositions have not changed dramatically,” Mulroy said when presented with the data analysis by MLK50. “I think it’s useful to rebut that claim that there’s been some sort of dramatic lessening of prosecutions since I took over.”
What the data shows
On property crimes
MLK50 grouped the offenses of burglary/theft and other offenses against property as “property crimes.”
An analysis of outcomes for those two categories shows that 2024, Mulroy’s first full fiscal year, wasn’t that far off from 2022, Weirich’s last full fiscal year.
- There were 1,668 dismissals for property crimes in 2024 (50% of all property crime outcomes), compared to 1,643 dismissals (48.8%) for the same crimes in 2022. The second largest category for each year was guilty plea as charged, 947 (28.4%) in 2024 and 1,146 (34%) in 2022.
- Pre-trial or judicial diversion was the outcome for 8% of cases in both years.
- Conviction trials made up 7 (0.2%) outcomes for property crimes in 2024, compared to 9 (0.3%) outcomes in 2022 for property crimes. Acquittal trials made up 1 (0%) outcome in 2024 for property crimes and 6 (0.2%) outcomes in 2022.
On violent crimes
Similarly, MLK50 grouped the offenses of assault, homicide, robbery and sexual offense as violent crimes.
- Looking at that category, fiscal year 2024 saw fewer overall outcomes than 2022 but similarities in several categories. The sharpest discrepancy was in guilty pleas as charged, which saw 661 (17.3%) in 2024 and 1,165 (25.8%) outcomes in 2022.
- There were 2,201 (57.6%) dismissals for violent crime in 2024, compared to 2,203 (48.8%) in 2022.
- Conviction trials for violent crimes comprised 60 (1.6%) outcomes in 2024, compared to 104 (2.3%) in 2022. Guilty pleas to lesser charges made up 497 outcomes (13%) in 2024, compared to 498 (11%) of outcomes in 2022.
- One category did drop between 2022 and 2024: Pretrial or judicial diversion. Fewer people received diversion for violent crimes in 2024 than in 2022: 250 (6.5%) in 2024 compared to 331 (7.3%) in 2022.
On conviction trials
One hundred cases (0.6% of outcomes) in the Shelby County Criminal Court resulted in a conviction trial in fiscal year 2024, compared to 176 conviction trials (1% of outcomes) in 2022.
But, the court saw more convictions in Mulroy’s first year than it did in 2023 when the court saw 80 conviction trials (0.4%).
2023 was a year of transition for the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, as Mulroy made personnel changes, announced a new Justice Review Unit (which Rardin helped lead before his retirement) and handled high-profile cases ranging from the beating death of Tyré Nichols by Memphis police officers to the kidnapping and killing of Eliza Fletcher.
Under Weirich, conviction trials ranged from a high of 423 in 2012 to a low of 9 in 2021 (a year the courts were impacted by COVID-19). With the exception of 2021, 2022 made up the year with the fewest conviction trials under Weirich.
As with overall outcomes and other measures, the number of conviction trials has fluctuated but generally trended down since 2012.
“Eighty percent of what we do is the bread and butter, day to day in the courts prosecuting regular cases,” Mulroy said. “That’s not really fundamentally changed, and it’s reflected in the case volume numbers.”
On acquittal trials
The raw number of acquittal trials went up in 2024 compared to other most recent years, but the percentage of overall dispositions aligned with those during Weirich’s recent years.
Fiscal year 2024 saw 51 trials that resulted in acquittal (0.3% of that year’s case outcomes) compared to 31 acquittal trials in 2023 (0.2%), 40 in 2022 (0.2%) and 62 in 2020 (0.3%).
On dismissals
Dismissals have made up the bulk of outcomes since at least 2017.
The year with the highest number was 2019, with 13,817 (55%) dismissals. The least came in 2014, with 8,955 (39.9%) dismissals.
In 2024, there were 10,777 dismissals (62.6%), compared to 10,200 dismissals in 2022 (55.2% of outcomes).
But, that was fewer dismissals in 2024 than in 2023.
Rardin, who worked for Mulroy, Weirich, Bill Gibbons, John Pierotti and Hugh Stanton during his years in the district attorney’s office, said it’s important to keep in mind that prosecutors have a duty to dismiss cases they know they cannot prove.
The quality of law enforcement investigations plays a role in determining which cases to dismiss, as do limited resources such as personnel and courtrooms.
“Dismissing cases is just as much a part of your job as is taking cases,” said Rardin, who also spent time during his career at the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office and as a Juvenile Court Magistrate.
On guilty pleas – as charged and to lesser charges
Both the number of cases resulting in a guilty as charged plea or a guilty plea to a lesser charge have trended down since 2011.
Fewer people plead guilty to lesser charges in 2024 than 2023. Fiscal year 2024 saw 1,189 cases result in a guilty plea to a lesser charge, slightly higher than the 1,154 in 2022.
Fiscal year 2024 saw the fewest cases (2,434) end in a guilty plea as charged since 2011. With a few exceptions, those numbers also trended downward under Weirich from a high of 9,366 in 2011 to a low of 3,376 in 2021.
Pre-trial or judicial diversion
As with other categories, pre-trial or judicial diversion has fluctuated. In 2024, 687 cases resulted in judicial diversion, fewer than Weirich’s final year, 2022, when 802 cases saw that result.
Pierre, the former prosecutor, said it’s important to know that diversion programs and specialty courts “really do support safety.”
Traditional prosecution, including a trial, sentencing and likely jail time, “has a high recidivism rate” and is costly to the taxpayers. Something like diversion — still a form of prosecution — instead acts as an “off-ramp” and has lower rates of people returning to crime. And, it costs less, she said.
“My passion is specifically supporting the notion that the role of the prosecutor can be keeping communities safe and simultaneously implementing reform measures,” she said.
What changes is Mulroy making?
On the campaign trail, Mulroy committed to providing alternatives to pretrial detention and ensuring that bail is “particularized to the individual defendant’s financial circumstances.” The state legislature has since passed a law blocking consideration of financial circumstances when setting bail, and bail is set by a judge or judicial commissioner, not the district attorney.
Mulroy also campaigned on reducing the number of transfers to adult court, developing community-based interventions for property crimes and launching a conviction integrity unit.
He has made changes while in office, but some were recent enough that it’s unclear if or how they will impact data for overall case dispositions.
In January, Mulroy announced a Fast Track Violent Crime Initiative in which his office identified 11 violent offenses to be expedited through investigation and the trial process. This followed his campaign trail promise to prioritize violent crime.
Earlier this year, Mulroy said he was limiting transfers from juvenile to adult court to those involving violent crimes where the defendant “was the trigger puller.”
In a report covering his first year in office, Mulroy announced new policies, including that all attempted murder and aggravated assault cases could not be dismissed without the approval of the deputy district attorney and that defendants who have pointed a gun at someone and pulled the trigger cannot have straight probation offered as a plea offer, regardless of whether someone was shot.
Mulroy has also committed to deemphasizing “certain non-public safety offenses” such as marijuana possession or late fees.
Vishant Shah, chief data officer for the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, said it takes time for those changes to ramp up but that Mulroy is trying “new approaches … to try to chip away” at issues in the legal system.
After the “ramp up period,” data will be analyzed and the changes refined, Shah said.
Katherine Burgess is the government accountability reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Contact her at katherine.burgess@mlk50.com
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