Lee V. Coffee is a judge of the Shelby County Criminal Court in Memphis, Tennessee, first elected in 2006. Before joining the bench he was an assistant district attorney in Harris County, Texas, an assistant public defender and an assistant district attorney general in Shelby County, and an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. He graduated from Northwestern University and Harvard Law School.
We have documented 1 statement by Lee V. Coffee, in 1 case. Each statement below gives the quotation, its original source and a link to the full case.
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Role at the time: Shelby County Criminal Court judge, ruling from the bench on the recusal request
Denied
Response to this claim
At the trial-court level in Andrew Hayes's post-conviction case, the district attorney's office, not the Tennessee attorney general's office, is the proper party to represent the state.
“Because we have to avoid even an inference of impropriety. There's no subjective prejudice on this court at all. In fact, I could have denied this request without even giving you a hearing.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)WMC Action News 5: Judge recuses self while wrongfully convicted man remains in prison · WMC Action News 5Full article
Why we used this label
The reference point is Judge Lee Coffee's handling of Andrew Hayes's petition to vacate his conviction, including his remarks at the August 2026 hearing on the district attorney's role, which Hayes's lawyers cited as evidence of bias. Coffee rejects the claim that he was biased while agreeing to step aside, which denies the allegation.
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee recused himself on November 6, 2026, from Andrew Hayes's bid to vacate his murder conviction after Hayes's lawyers questioned his impartiality. Coffee denied any prejudice; the district attorney supports Hayes's petition.
