John Jefferson
Left: Christopher Smith (Shelby County Jail). Right: Shelby County Judge Bill Anderson (Tennessee Courts).
A judge in Tennessee raised eyebrows Tuesday when he allowed a suspect who allegedly fired a gunshot at cops while fleeing a traffic stop during a mental health crisis to go free.
On Nov. 10, Memphis police officers responded to an armed mental health call in the 3400 block of Lakeview Road. When they arrived on scene a woman said her son, 42-year-old Christopher Smith, was having a mental health issue due to him being a military veteran, a criminal complaint says. Smith’s mother told officers where he may have gone and cops spotted him in a nearby parking lot sitting in the driver’s seat of an Acura.
When officers approached, Smith allegedly rolled down his window and asked them if “they wanted to die.” He then took off from the parking lot and fired a gunshot toward officers, the complaint said.
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He drove back to the home on Lakeview and went to the back of the property, cops wrote. Smith refused to come out of car and ran over a $60,000 police robot that cops deployed to surveil the area. It rendered the robot inoperable.
After about 12 hours, officers were finally able to coax him out and they took him into custody on attempted murder charges.
Smith had been at the Shelby County Jail on a $200,000 bond until Tuesday when Shelby County Judge Bill Anderson nixed the bond and allowed the suspect to go free on his own recognizance.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told local CBS affiliate WREG that his office disagreed with Anderson and had requested Smith’s bond remain at $200,000. Mulroy told the TV station that prosecutors plan to file an emergency Writ of Certiorari in Criminal Court.
Local politicians are also getting involved. State Sen. Brent Taylor, a Republican, sent Mulroy’s office a letter urging him to appeal the judge’s bond decision.
“Clearly, he is a threat to public safety as evidenced by firing at police officers and barricading himself for a standoff,” Taylor wrote, according to WREG. “His mother stated Smith is a military veteran and suffered from mental illness. As I am sure you know, this will allow a Criminal Court judge to set an appropriate and higher bond whereby the public will be protected.”
Taylor also wrote Mulroy a letter earlier this month after Anderson released a suspect accused of shooting at a FedEx employee.
“To my knowledge, you have chosen not to act on my previous letter. I renew my request and remind you that the public’s safety demands you attempt to overturn this decision by this so-called judge,” Taylor wrote.
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