Sedley Alley DNA Testing Petition Dismissed
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Public Records & Notices View a complete day’s public records and notices at memphisdailynews.com. www.chandlerreports.com Wednesday, November 20, 2019 MemphisDailyNews.com Vol. 134 | No. 185 Rack–50¢/Delivery–39¢ Orion expanding in Little Rock, multiple projects planned in Memphis CHRISTIN YATES The Memphis-based bank business in Little Rock and the “We will start construction of a organizations in the financial Courtesy of The Daily Memphian plans to grow its presence in the surrounding area within that in- branch in Little Rock in the next services industry have to grow to Orion Federal Credit Union Little Rock, Arkansas, market and stitution’s field of membership. three months, and we are look- gain economies of scale to pro- recently filed a building permit along the Interstate 40 corridor “We are expanding in the ing at different opportunities to vide competitive products and for construction of a new bank that links the two cities. Orion Little Rock market with plans for expand in Little Rock.” services. branch at 3852 Hacks Cross Road. acquired Arkansas Employees two to three additional locations Additional new markets The new branch in Southeast But that is not the only project in Federal Credit Union in January there,” Ashley McAdams, chief fi- may be coming in the future, store. 2018, which allowed Orion to do nancial officer for Orion FCU, said. Orion officials say, noting that ORION CONTINUED ON P2 Alley’s daughter, April Alley, petitioned the court through the nonprofit Innocence Project to test DNA to find out if it clears her father of the Sedley Alley DNA testing crime. If testing were to clear Sedley Alley, it would be the first case in the nation of a person exoner- ated through DNA testing posthumously, the In- petition dismissed nocence Project said. April Alley wasn’t at the brief court ruling Mon- day, but Bill Massey, a Memphis attorney working on the case with the Innocence Project, said they were “disappointed” in the judge’s ruling and plan to file an appeal. “The truth should not be buried with Sedley Alley,” Massey said. “If indeed the DNA will provide that truth, then we should allow testing because it could well be there could be a killer who’s in the community. Certainly, that’s very possible given the evidence we have been able to discover and, secondly, Mr. Al- ley’s daughter, April, I think she should have some closure as well and know the truth.” Massey said they will appeal Skahan’s ruling, first to the Court of Appeals and then to the state Supreme Court if necessary. The case could take up to a year if it is heard by the Tennessee Supreme Court, he said. He also requested the evidence in the case be preserved. The evidence includes to a pair of men’s un- derwear found near the crime scene and the tree branch. The Innocence Project began working on the Alley case 13 years ago by fighting to get the DNA evidence tested under the state’s post-conviction DNA Analysis Act. Its efforts were denied by the courts, and Sedley Alley was executed in 2006. The case for testing DNA was revived about Attorney Bill Massey asks that the court preserve DNA evidence after Judge Paula Skahan ruled that there is not enough grounds four months ago when the Innocence Project re- to conduct a DNA test in the Sedley Alley case Nov. 18. (Jim Weber/Courtesy of The Daily Memphian) ceived a tip from police in St. Louis about a man arrested there for murder and rape. YOLANDA JONES exonerate him posthumously of a 1985 Orgill Park outside the Millington Na- After reviewing the man’s history, investiga- Courtesy of The Daily Memphian murder, saying the estate does not have val base. tors found he was at the Millington training school Shelby County Criminal Court standing in the case. Collins was killed while out for a during the same time as Collins, and they said he Judge Paula Skahan Monday dismissed Alley was executed by Tennessee in jog. She was severely beaten, strangled, could be a suspect in her slaying. a petition by the estate of Sedley Alley 2006 for the 1985 murder of 19-year-old sexually assaulted and impaled with a to have DNA tested in an attempt to Lance Cpl. Suzanne Collins in Edmund tree branch. DNA CONTINUED ON P3 INSIDE Public Records ................ 4 memphisdailynews.com chandlerreports.com Public Notices ............... 12 ©2019 The Daily News Publishing Company A division of The Daily News Publishing Company Memphis, Tennessee The standard for premium real estate Established 1886 • 134th year information since 1968 Call 901.523.1561 to subscribe Call 901.458.6419 for more information Page 2 MemphisDailyNews.com Wednesday, November 20, 2019 Funding demands for Shelby County Register of Deeds Shelandra Ford still unmet receiving the necessary resources to hire for copies of records and or information some people. And we were just asking for about records about a specific office will be five as a temporary fix.” The resolution, referred back to said office to make avail- which will be revisited on Dec. 3, was to able the record if applicable.” amend the fiscal 2020 budget to give Ford Her office is responsible for thousands $168, 412.00 to pay two full-time employ- of boxes of documents on Nixon Drive, at a ees and three temporary workers.That the warehouse on Bellevue Boulevard in South commission put the resolution on hold in- Memphis and a county building on Wash- dicates, Ford said, that they do not see her ington Avenue.A 2005 agreement between situation as urgent. former register Tom Leatherwood and for- Ford said she will huddle with her team mer county mayor A C Wharton and a reso- and that she has already contacted the lution approved by the County Commission Tennessee Attorney General’s office about turned the record keeping responsibilities the issue. During the commission meet- over to the register of deeds. However, state ing Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., asked law does not require the register to take on about the backlog of records that are not in that responsibility.Also, she said, funding compliance with state law, which requires for those duties did not continue. certain records be maintained in at least Shelandra Ford has said when a judge two forms. or another elected official makes a records Shelandra Ford told The Daily Mem- request, her staff must stop the work they’ve Shelandra Y. Ford, Shelby County Register of Deeds, has informed every elected official that phian it would take one employee 246 years been hired to do for the register to handle she would stop taking their records without a budget bump. (Patrick Lantrip/Courtesy of The Daily Memphian) to scan the backlog of materials from 2005 that request.Edmund Ford (no relation to through 2018. It would take five people 49 Shelandra Ford) said the register was not years, 10 people 25 years, 20 people 13 years the only elected official to inherit “chal- LINDA A. MOORE dedicated archives workers. and 50 people five years. lenges from their predecessors” and that he Courtesy of The Daily Memphian Ford, meanwhile, left the meeting feel- In a letter dated Oct. 17, Shelandra Ford plans to propose a resolution to have those Thirty-odd days after Shelby County ing blindsided that the resolution, which advised county elected officials that her offices audited.Commissioner Mick Wright Register of Deeds Shelandra Ford alerted passed with eight votes in committee, did office was not constitutionally responsible wanted to wait for an audit or a final figure every county elected official that without not move forward. for their records and that unless something on what it would cost to staff archives work- more money her office would stop taking “It still leaves us in the same situation. was done, she would no longer be respon- ers ongoing before approving the stopgap care of their records, the County Commis- We don’t have the bodies to perform those sible for them.“Ownership, maintenance resolution. Commissioner Van Turner pro- sion on Monday sent back to committee a duties,” she said outside the commission and the keys will be turned over to you. Any posed that the resolution be moved back resolution to provide Ford with funds for chambers. “I was willing to continue upon individual, entity and or agency inquiring to committee. ORION CONTINUED FROM P1 Weickenand questions whether younger generations will walk into a branch in the Memphis is a relocation of an existing future, which is why Orion has invested in branch in the area that was difficult to its mobile application and other technol- access, McAdams said. Grinder, Taber & ogy advancements.“In the future, I think Grinder Inc. is general contractor for the branches will still be around, but there may $1.9 million project, designed by Looney not be as many of them. It’s a unique time Ricks Kiss.In the greater Memphis area, in the financial services industry,” he said. Orion has two other projects in the plan- Founded in Memphis in 1957, Orion Fed- ning phase. It has purchased a property in eral Credit Union has grown to become one Raleigh to relocate a branch there as well. of the largest credit unions in the Mid-South “We want people to be able to find the with more than 70,000 members and $800 branch and have it easily accessible while million in assets. It currently has 200 em- improving the overall design so customers ployees. When the new Little Rock branch have a great experience when they walk in opens, there will be 12 Orion locations in the our doors,” McAdams said.The other project Mid-South.