Defendant Billy R. Turner enters Judge Lee Coffee's courtroom Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, in Shelby County Criminal Court for his arraignment in the killing of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright in 2010. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal via AP)
Republished December 07, 2017 - 8:57 AM
Original Publication Date December 07, 2017 - 1:46 AM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The mother of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright stood up during a court hearing for a man charged with killing him and shouted, "How could you have murdered my son?"
Wearing a red sweater with a drawing of her son's face on it, Deborah Marion made the outburst during an arraignment for Billy R. Turner on Thursday in a Memphis courtroom. Judge Lee Coffee told her he would not allow another such interruption.
Turner was indicted Tuesday on a first-degree murder charge. His bail is set at $1 million.
Turner told the judge that he was planning to hire an attorney and Coffee set a hearing for Tuesday.
Wright's body was found in a swampy field in suburban Memphis on July 28, 2010, 10 days after the 34-year-old was reported missing. He was shot multiple times. The seven-year investigation into his death has been one of the Memphis Police Department's most high-profile unsolved cases.
After Marion's statement, the judge said he understands her pain because his father was killed, but he also said that he would not allow anyone to "engage in an outburst like that."
Wright, who was born and raised in Memphis, played for the Memphis Grizzlies and four other NBA teams as a forward and centre over 13 seasons before retiring in 2009.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017