Lorenzen Wright's Ex-Wife Pleads Guilty to Facilitation of First-Degree Murder

Late NBA player Lorenzen Wright was murdered in July 2010.

Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Late NBA player Lorenzen Wright's ex-wife, Sherra Wright, pleaded guilty to facilitation of murder in the first degree in Memphis on Thursday.

Sherra Wright originally pleaded not guilty but appeared in court on Thursday to change her plea. She received a sentence of 30 years in prison and is eligible for parole after serving eight years, which is 30% of her sentence. She will be credited for her time served, which is less than two years.

The Commercial Appealreports Sherra Wright's hearing on Thursday was unscheduled. Trial for Sherra Wright and her co-defendant Billy Turner was scheduled to start on September 16.

Lorenzen Wright was murdered on July 19, 2010, while visiting his family in Memphis. His mother, Deborah Marion, filed a missing person's report on July 22. Six days later, police found Lorenzen Wright's body in a secluded wooded area of southeast Memphis. Sherra Wright was the last known person to have seen Lorenzen Wright alive. She told the police on July 22 that Lorenzen Wright left her house on July 18 with an unknown person in an unknown vehicle.

Lorenzen Wright called 911 from his cell phone shortly after midnight on July 19. He barely said the word "Goddamn" before gunshots could be heard and the line went dead. The 911 dispatcher in Germantown, Tenn., called back but there was no answer. An autopsy report later revealed that Lorenzen Wright was shot in the head and chest at least nine times.

Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports 1 collaborated on an investigation in 2015 to look into Lorenzen Wright's murder when it remained unsolved.

In December 2017, Turner and Sherra Wright were arrested on charges related to Lorenzen Wright's death. 

According to the Associated Press, witnesses said Sherra Wright organized a plan for two men to kill Lorenzen Wright at his Atlanta home but the attempt failed. Authorities said Sherra Wright and Turner then plotted to kill the former NBA player.

Defense attorney Juni Ganguli told reporters on Thursday that Sherra Wright's defense at trial would have been that she was fed up with Lorenzen Wright beating her for years, per the AP.