Sherra Wright: Ex-wife of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright faces 30-year jail sentence over his murder nine years ago

Lorenzen Wright played for a number of top NBA teams over his 13-year career, collecting around $55.5 million in salary
AP

The ex-wife of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright is facing 30 years in jail after she admitted facilitating his murder nine years ago.

Sherra Wright entered her plea during an unexpected hearing at Shelby County Criminal Court in the US city of Memphis on Thursday morning.

The basketball star’s body was found riddled with bullet wounds in a marshy field in July 2010.

He had been missing for 10 days before the shocking discovery was made.

Sherra Wright pleaded guilty to 'facilitation to first-degree murder'. She now faces a 30-year prison sentence
AP

Wright originally said she last saw Lorenzen after he left his home in Collierville with drugs and an unspecified amount of money.

She told officers he never returned and was the last known person to have seen him alive.

In the days that followed, she gave a number of conflicting and contradictory accounts of their final interaction to the media.

A 911 call was made from Lorenzen’s phone on the night he died, in which a dispatcher spoke with the former LA Clippers’ star before hearing 11 gunshots ring out. The line then fell silent.

Wright cashed in a $1 million life insurance policy in his name following his death.

She eventually admitted to masterminding a plot to kill her ex-husband and conspiring with another man, Billy Turner, to execute it.

Turner, a landscaper in the Memphis suburb of Collierville, and Wright attended the same church.

Wright’s initial plan to have two men kill Lorenzen at his home in Atlanta failed, witnesses said. She and Turner then conspired to kill him in Memphis, according to authorities.

The pair were charged with first-degree murder and had been scheduled to go to trial on September 16.

But the impromptu plea deal struck by Wright means she has already received her 30-year sentence.

It also states she will be eligible for parole after serving 30 per cent of her sentence, which will be in around nine years.

After Wright entered her plea, the judge allowed Lorenzen's mother Deborah Marion to address the court.

Ms Marion spoke directly to her son’s ex-wife, telling her she just wanted to see her grandchildren.

“I just hate what happened to my child, but he left some nice-looking granddkids,” she reportedly said. “They want to see me, I want to see them.”

Marion said she was satisfied with the sentence but she would push for Wright to serve the full 30 years.

Turner was originally scheduled to appear in court on an unrelated gun charge on Friday.

This court date has now been moved to August 8. He is set to go to trial on September 16 for his alleged part in Lorenzen’s murder.

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