Marquellrious Harris was 18 when he was charged in connection with a two-day Memphis crime spree that included a carjacking at gunpoint and vehicle break-ins, according to police accounts reported by WREG. Harris pleaded guilty to all five charges before the state dropped four of them, WREG reported. He later received judicial diversion and an eight-year deferred sentence tied to the carjacking charge, avoiding prison if he completes the probationary period, WREG reported.
What diversion means
Judicial diversion does not mean there was no guilty plea. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation guidance says it follows a guilty plea, a finding of guilt or a no-contest plea; the sentence is not imposed if the defendant successfully completes probation. That describes the general process, but it does not establish why diversion was granted in Harris’s case.
The case began with a reported series of incidents over two days in January 2025. WREG reported that surveillance footage showed a group breaking into cars in a business parking lot, while a separate account of the arrest by Yahoo News described a woman being forced from her car at gunpoint. Police said the car used in the carjacking had been reported stolen and that surveillance showed people leaving it before breaking into vehicles. Harris faced charges that included auto theft, auto burglary, carjacking and using a firearm during a dangerous felony, according to the reporting.
The case amid Memphis auto-theft concerns
Harris’s case comes amid a reported rise in vehicle thefts, though that trend does not explain or establish the reasoning behind his sentence. Action News 5 reported that motor-vehicle thefts in Memphis increased 36% from 2019 to 2025, even as most other major offenses declined. That citywide comparison provides context for the type of crime involved; it does not show that theft trends influenced the court’s decision in Harris’s case.
Victim Michael King told WREG he felt blindsided by the outcome. He said he had met with a prosecutor earlier in the case but was not told why Harris received diversion. WREG reported that it asked the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office for an explanation and had not received a response at the time of its report.
