Fri. Feb 14th, 2025

State appeals judge’s ruling allowing Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert to remain in office

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The battle over the Shelby County Clerk’s Office continued Friday when the Shelby County Attorney appealed a judge’s ruling that allowed Clerk Wanda Halbert to remain in office.

That ruling came down in November 2024. Attorney Robert Meyers, acting on behalf of Shelby County Attorney Marlinee Iverson, filed an ouster petition against Herbert, seeking to remove the Shelby County Clerk from office.

It was dismissed, as was a similar ouster petition against Halbert months earlier, because a judge ruled that the person who filed the petition did not have the authority to do so.

Only three local officials have the standing to file an ouster petition: the attorney general, district attorney, or county attorney.

Shelby County Attorney Iverson did not file the petition personally to avoid a conflict of interest, the same reason Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy declined to personally file such a petition. Instead, Iverson appointed Deputy County Attorney Lee Whitwell to handle the case. Whitwell then hired private attorney Meyers.

“You can’t have a deputy county attorney facilitating, instituting, instigating, hiring private lawyers to file an ouster petition. Running the entire show. His name is not on the petition. I don’t see how this case can go forward,” said Judge Corbin Johnson before dismissing the second ouster petition. “The legislature had clearly spoken in terms of who can bring this case.”

The first ouster petition against Halbert met a similar fate in June. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, citing the potential for a conflict of interest, appointed Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp to conduct an investigation into Halbert and ultimately file the ouster petition. A judge ruled that Wamp lacked the standing to file such a petition and dismissed the case against the Shelby County Clerk.

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