The jailed ex-wife of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright is competent to stand trial for his murder and participate in her defense, according to a mental evaluation read aloud in court Friday by a judge in Memphis (via the Memphis Commercial Appeal).
Sherra Wright's attorneys had requested the evaluation after a string of incidents at the Shelby County (Tenn.) Jail East in which officials there described her as behaving bizarrely, refusing to comply with orders and being slow to comply when she did.
Her behavior, then-attorney Blake Ballin said, could be attributed to "deteriorating mental health." Ballin and his co-counsel eventually withdrew, and Wright's new attorneys requested the evaluation.
Wright and co-defendant Billy Ray Turner are charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the 2010 death of Lorenzen Wright, who played 13 seasons in the NBA after starring collegiately at Memphis.
Wright is in custody on a $20 million bond. Turner is jailed on a $15 million bond.
