MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A Tennessee judge issued a $20 million bond Wednesday for the ex-wife of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright in his shooting death nearly eight years ago.
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee said his decision to give Sherra Wright such a high bond was partly driven by her bad behavior while being held at a women’s jail on murder and attempted murder charges in her ex-husband’s slaying.
Lorenzen Wright played for 13 seasons as a forward and center in the NBA, including several for the Grizzlies in Memphis, where he was born and raised.
His decomposing, bullet-riddled body was found in a swampy field in suburban Memphis on July 28, 2010 – 10 days after the 34-year-old was reported missing. In an affidavit read in court by prosecutor Paul Hagerman, witnesses said she masterminded a plan to have two men kill Lorenzen Wright at his home in Atlanta, but that attempt failed.
Authorities said she and Billy Turner then conspired to kill him in Memphis, and they dumped one of the guns used in the shooting in a Mississippi lake. One witness cited in the affidavit said Sherra Wright identified the spot where her ex-husband’s body would be found, days before it was discovered.