NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — State Rep. Paul Sherrell (R-Sparta) is now apologizing after comments he made Tuesday suggesting Tennessee's death row inmates be executed by "hanging by a tree."
Sherrell's comments took place during a House Criminal Justice Committee meeting Tuesday, discussing an amendment to a bill that would allow death row inmates to be executed with a firing squad, a method currently not allowed in Tennessee.
During the meeting, Sherrell expressed support for the proposed change, saying, "Could I put an amendment on that it would include hanging by a tree, also?”
No lawmakers directly responded to Sherrell's comment, with other lawmakers instead continuing to question the bill's sponsor, Rep. Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro).
Gloria Sweet-Love, President of the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP responded to Sherrell's comment:
"While debating the firing squad as a method of execution in the House of Representatives' Criminal Justice Committee, Representative Paul Sherrell stated: “I think it’s a very good idea, and I was just wondering about, could I put an amendment on that it would include hanging by a tree, also?” Representative Sherrell's comment is beyond disgusting. He is celebrating a particular form of execution used against African Americans in Tennessee and across the nation, including innocent and wrongfully convicted persons. In many parts of the South, lynchings took place in nearly every county as it exemplified racialized and anti-Black violence. We know from numerous research studies that Blacks are also disproportionately executed, especially when the alleged victim is White. Sherrell's comment--with reference to the most detested form of racialized violence--appears to be tinged race. It is a sad day in Tennessee politics when a lawmaker publicly announces that he wants to resurrect the lynching tree. We demand an apology from Representative Sherrill and ask the House leadership to condemn statements advocating racialized violence."
On Wednesday, the press secretary for the House Republican caucus released this statement from Sherrell:
“I regret that I used very poor judgment in voicing my support of a colleague’s bill in the Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday. My exaggerated comments were intended to convey my belief that for the cruelest and most heinous crimes, a just society requires the death penalty in kind. Although a victim’s family cannot be restored when an execution is carried out, a lesser punishment undermines the value we place on protecting life. My intention was to express my support of families who often wait decades for justice. I sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been hurt or offended.”
The amendment proposing execution by firing squad comes as the state is currently revising the protocol used by the Department of Correction to execute death row inmates. The state called for the revision aftera scathing independent report detailing failures in how TDOC has executed prisoners by lethal injection.
