- Edio White, 18 and Conner Tucker, 15, were driving to 15-year-old Anthony Mason's home in Memphis on Thanksgiving Day
- When a staged firearms deal went south, Tucker admitted to shooting Mason in the head with White acting as the getaway driver
- Despite White admitting to his role in the shooting, a judge using the county's new bail system released White without bond
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulloy, a Democrat, passed a new bail system in 2022 where people received hearings with counsel within 72 hours of arrest.
Mulloy said the changes were meant to reform a system that was 'harder on the poor, it's harder on minorities.'
'This is an attempt to fix that,' he told Local Memphis.
'Under the old system, a judicial commissioner would make an off the top of their head determination about bail, and it was often unaffordable, and then people would languish behind the bars.'
According to Fox 13, both White's attorney and the DA's office still recommended a $75,000 bond but Judge Bill Anderson recommended White be released on his own recognizance.
Shelby County District Attorney's Office said in a statement that 'the judge made the ROR (released on recognizance) decision.'
Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, lashed out at the decision on X.
'After fatally shooting a 15-year-old in the head, the Memphis man responsible for his death has been released from custody,' she wrote. 'He wasn't even required to pay bond.'
Criminals belong behind bars. NOT out on the streets.
Anderson - who supervises the judicial commissioners who set bail - has staunchly defended the new system in the past.
'Everybody has the right to bail,' he told Action News 5 in August. 'You cannot lock people up and throw away the key, you just can't.'
'As much as the public may want to, we can't do that. We don't have the space. We don't have the people available to monitor that, and it's unconstitutional.'
White's next hearing is scheduled for December 5. 
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