MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Andrew Hayes returned to Shelby County court on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, and this time the prosecution was not on the other side. Prosecutors joined the defense request to clear his sentence in the 2007 Cordova murder case, Action News 5 reported, and new evidence was presented in the case the same day, per WREG.
The hearing caps a documented reversal that has been building all year. A filing detailed on January 15, 2026 laid out new evidence that the District Attorney's office said proves Hayes was wrongfully convicted, per Action News 5. The office publicly called the conviction "an injustice," per Local Memphis. New evidence later led investigators to a different suspect, per WREG; FOX13 reported that the newly named suspect has since died, a development the station said complicates the case. That person was never charged or convicted in this killing, and naming by investigators is an allegation, not a finding of guilt. Hayes' family spent the summer holding rallies and gathering signatures demanding his release, per Action News 5 in July 2026.
What the court does with a motion both sides support is now the open question. The order, when it comes, is the primary record.
Why It Matters for Memphis
A conviction the county's own prosecutors no longer stand behind is an accountability record twice over: once for the original investigation and prosecution that produced it in 2007, and once for the review process that took until 2026 to unwind it. The docket in Shelby County Criminal Court, not any press conference, will show what the office conceded, when, and on what evidence.
The Oversight Question
When both sides of a courtroom agree a man was wrongfully convicted, what took nineteen years, and which office owns the answer?
Your city. Your money. Your receipts.
