Case IntelA Memphis jury convicted inmate Mervin Anderson after he was caught with two homemade knives. He faces up to five years at sentencing, all while awaiting trial in a separate fentanyl conspiracy case. MEMPHIS – A federal jury in Memphis has delivered a guilty verdict against 40-year-old Mervin Anderson, convicting him of possessing contraband in prison after he was caught wielding two sharpened metal shanks. According to trial evidence, Anderson was recorded on surveillance cameras inside a cell block at the Detention Center confronting another inmate. Prosecutors emphasized that the weapons were not only dangerous but intended for use, given Anderson’s aggressive confrontation with another inmate.