Tag: capital punishment

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State vs. Local

JB Smiley at Germantown Democrats’ picnic (Photo: Jackson Baker)

Most people are familiar with an adage, often attributed to the late Speaker of the U.S. House Tip O’Neill, that “all politics is local.”

Until it isn’t. 

Tennesseans are becoming uncomfortably aware that state government is muscling into as many local government prerogatives as possible — in areas ranging from education to healthcare to social policy to, increasingly, law enforcement.

A number of current circumstances reflect what seems to be a war of attrition waged at the state level against the right of Memphis and Shelby County to pursue independent law-and-order initiatives.

Memphis City Council chairman JB Smiley spoke to the matter Sunday at the annual picnic of the Germantown Democratic Club at Cameron Brown Park.

Said Smiley: “You know, recently, I’ve been, against my will, going back and forth with someone in the statehouse who doesn’t care for Shelby County called Cameron Sexton. Yeah, he doesn’t believe that Shelby County has the right to exercise its voice.“

Sexton, of course, is the Republican speaker of the state House of Representatives who recently threatened to withhold from Memphis its share of some vital state revenues in retaliation for the city’s inclusion on the November 5th ballot of a referendum package soliciting citizens’ views on possible future firearms curbs.

The package lists three initiatives — a reinstatement of gun-carry permits, a ban on the sale of assault rifles, and the right of judges to impose “red-flag” laws against the possession of weapons by demonstrably risky individuals.

All the initiatives are in the form of “trigger laws,” which would be activated only if and when state policy might allow the local options. As Smiley noted, “That’s what the state did when they disagreed with the federal government when it came to abortion rights. As soon as the law changed in the country, [their] law became full and effective. That’s what we’re going to do in the city of Memphis.” 

Simultaneous with this ongoing showdown between city and state has been a determined effort by Republican state Senator Brent Taylor and others to pass state laws restricting the prerogatives of local Criminal Court judges and Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy.

One piece of Taylor-sponsored legislation, passed last year, would transfer authority over capital punishment appeals from the DA to the state attorney general. Litigation against the law pursued by Mulroy and an affected defendant resulted in the measure’s being declared unconstitutional in trial court.

But the state Appeals Court reversed that judgment last week, seemingly revalidating the law and causing Taylor to crow in a social media post over what he deemed a personal victory over Mulroy, whom he accused of wanting to “let criminals off of death row” and whose ouster he has vowed to pursue in the legislature.

The fact is, however, that there will be one more review of the measure, by the state Supreme Court, before its ultimate status is made clear. 

Some of the immediate media coverage of the matter tended to play up Taylor’s declaration of victory over Mulroy, ignoring the ongoing aspects of the litigation and overlooking obvious nuances. 

One TV outlet erroneously reported the Appeals Court as having found Mulroy guilty of “inappropriate” conduct when the court had merely speculated on the legalistic point of whether the DA had appropriate standing as a plaintiff (a point that was conceded, incidentally, by the state Attorney General).

Mulroy’s reaction to the Appeals Court finding focused on the issue as having to do with governance: “The Tennessee Constitution says local voters get to elect a local resident DA to represent them in court. This law transfers power over the most serious cases, death penalty cases, from locally elected DAs across the state to one unelected state official half a state away. This should concern anyone, regardless of party, who cares about local control and state overreach.”

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Tennessee Black Caucus Wants Lawmaker Punished for Lynching Comment

State Capitol (Credit: Tennessee State Government)

The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators wants state Rep. Paul Sherrell to be punished for saying the state should return to “hanging by a tree” as a form of capital punishment.

“The Republican Caucus should be ashamed and outraged. The silence of his members is deafening,” Black Caucus Chairman Sam McKenzie says.

A half-baked apology won’t suffice, either, says McKenzie, who sounded off with the caucus Thursday.

Sherrell, a Sparta Republican on the Criminal Justice Committee, made the comment as the Republican-controlled panel voted Tuesday in favor of legislation allowing death row inmates to request electrocution if lethal injection protocol is off the rails, as it has been. The measure was amended to add death by firing squads. 

Apparently, the argument goes that we’ve had problems with lethal injection guidelines, so why not bring back firing squads since people can carry without a permit and the state could recruit people off the street to do the dirty work.

While McKenzie is seeking the minimum punishment, Rep. Johnny Shaw, a Bolivar Democrat and member of the Black Caucus, is calling for Sherrell to resign. Shaw points out Sherrell attends the same prayer sessions he does each week, but he notes the Bible’s New Testament contains nothing about hanging people.

They spoke about Sherrell’s flippancy after House Republican leaders put a statement in front of him Thursday morning and told him to read it in the chamber. They point out he’s also sponsoring legislation to change John Lewis Way in Nashville to President Trump Way, a slap in the face to civil rights advocates.

“I regret that I used very poor judgment in voicing my support of a colleague’s bill in the Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday,” Sherrell intoned. “My aggressive 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 I have hurt or offended.”

(It must be noted that Sherrell didn’t read the statement correctly, using the word “aggressive” instead of “exaggerated” and then botching the last few words.)

Thus, though it’s hard to take anything Sherrell says seriously, this is a different situation. Not only did he and the statement refuse to acknowledge that his comment conjured images of Black Tennesseans being beaten and lynched for hundreds of years, he tried to make it seem as if he were the victim, simply because he supports an immediate death penalty. Nevermind the fact that many people on Death Row nationwide have been found not guilty after years in prison.

On the House floor, state Rep. G.A. Hardaway did not respond with a smile, saying Sherrell’s apology wasn’t sincere – probably because it wasn’t.

Hardaway, one of two Black lawmakers on the Criminal Justice Committee, says he was “sad” and “mad” at the same time when he heard Sherrell call for hanging people.

“I couldn’t believe that I was hearing that and of all committees, a justice committee,” Hardaway says. The Memphis Democrat held his tongue on Tuesday because he didn’t want to display anger.

It evokes the sordid history of not just Tennessee, but of America, of those days when lynchings were common practice, when due process was denied to Black men whenever a white man decided to.

Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, on Sherrell’s remarks

But Hardaway contends Sherrell made a follow-up statement and used the term “living tree,” which made it more “maddening” for him.

“It evokes the sordid history of not just Tennessee, but of America, of those days when lynchings were common practice, when due process was denied to Black men whenever a white man decided to,” Hardaway says. “And I don’t need to hear anybody talk about, ‘It wasn’t me, that I wasn’t alive back then.’”

Asked about the matter Thursday, House Speaker Cameron Sexton says nobody approves of what Sherrell said. “I think if you saw, he apologized on the House floor for those comments.”

Sexton’s spokesman didn’t respond to email questions later about whether he felt Sherrell should be removed from committees.

Black Caucus members were apoplectic at the press conference shortly, especially since state Rep. Justin Pearson’s mic had been cut off as he tried to address the matter during the House’s preliminary “honoring and welcoming” portion of the Thursday session. Pearson previously was dressed down by the House Republican Caucus for wearing a dashiki the day he was sworn in this month after winning a special election to replace the late state Rep. Barbara Cooper.

He continues to wear it, and it must be noted, the dashiki looks better than most suit jackets.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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State Sets Execution Dates for Two More Inmates

CREDIT: Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock


Less than a week after the execution of Nicholas Sutton, the Tennessee Supreme Court has issued execution dates for two more inmates later this year, prompting one anti-death penalty group to refer to Tennessee as the “outlier” in its use of executions.

The court issued execution dates for Bryon Black and Pervis Payne Monday.

Black, a Davidson County resident, was convicted of the 1988 murders of his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters. Payne, a Shelby County resident, was convicted of the 1987 murders of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter.

Prior to the court’s order, Black attempted to have his death sentence commuted, citing his intellectual disability. Black argued that his execution would violate both the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions due to his mental illness.

According to court documents, Black also asserted that the death penalty is racist and that Tennessee “is out of step with the evolving standards of decency.”

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The court denied his request, as there were no “extenuating circumstances” that warranted the commutation of his sentence.

However, the court has granted Black the opportunity for a competency hearing in July, which will determine if he is competent enough to be executed. If Black’s petition is denied, his death sentence will be carried out on September 24th.

Payne also asked the court to commute his sentence, citing reasons similar to Black. In addition, Payne asserted that he has a “strong case of actual innocence.” But the court also denied his request. Payne is set to be executed on December 3rd.

Last month, the Tennessee Supreme Court also set execution dates for two more inmates — Oscar Franklin Smith, who was convicted for a triple murder in 1989, and Harold Wayne Nichols, who was convicted for a 1988 rape and murder.

‘Outlier’

Tennessee is one of 30 states where capital punishment is still legal. Twenty states and Washington D.C. have abolished the death penalty.

Between 2009 and 2018, no executions were carried out in the state. Since August 2018, seven inmates have been executed in Tennessee.


In that 18-month period, Tennessee executed the second-highest number of inmates behind Texas, which carried out 24 death sentences, based on data from the Death Penalty Information Center.

In the past decade — despite an eight-year period of no executions — Tennessee has put the 11th highest number of inmates to death.

Texas tops that list, having carried out 122 death sentences since 2020. Behind Texas is Florida with 31 executions, Georgia with 30, and Ohio with 23.

Death Penalty Information Center

States with capital punishment

Stacy Rector, executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to Death Penalty, believes Tennessee has become “an outlier in its use of executions.”

Rector notes that the death penalty and support for the death penalty are at “historic 40-year lows.”

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“In the most recent Gallup Poll, 60 percent of Americans now say that they prefer the sentence of life without parole over the death penalty, and Tennessee juries have delivered only two new death sentences since 2013, showing that Tennesseans have moved away from the practice,” Rector said. “Increasingly, evidence demonstrates that our death penalty system is not applied fairly and accurately.”

Rector also cites a recent study published by the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy that concluded the state’s capital punishment system is a “cruel lottery” that is “riddled with arbitrariness.” The study examined every first-degree murder case in the state since 1977 to determine whether or not the arbitrariness that led the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 to declare the country’s death penalty laws unconstitutional is still a factor in Tennessee.

Specifically, the study concluded that in the more than 2,500 cases reviewed, the facts of the crime could not be used to predict whether or not the death penalty would be imposed. Instead, the study found that arbitrary factors, such as the race of the defendant, the quality of defense, and the views of the prosecutors and judges were the best indicators of whether or not the defendant would be sentenced to death.

Rector agrees, saying that mental illness, intellectual disability, racial bias, and ineffective counsel all play a role in the cases of inmates who are currently scheduled for execution in Tennessee.

Death Penalty Information Center

Methods

Tennessee is one of nine states where execution by electric chair is legal. However, no state other than Tennessee has used this method since 2013. Per state law, Tennessee inmates sentenced to death prior to 1999 are allowed to choose between lethal injection or electrocution. Of Tennessee’s seven executions since 2018, five, including the most recent execution of Sutton, were done by electrocution.

Many states, most recently Georgia and Nebraska, have abolished the use of the electric chair, ruling that it is “cruel and unusual punishment.”

There is ongoing litigation surrounding Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, which some have called “tortuous.”

Most recently, Smith, who is scheduled to be executed this summer, along with four other death row inmates, filed separate federal lawsuits presenting new evidence challenging the state’s three-drug lethal injection cocktail, which was adopted in early 2018.

The three drugs include midazolam, a sedative; vecuronium bromide, a paralytic; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

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Smith’s lawsuit alleges that midazolam is unsuitable for executions and that there have been problems with the preparation of potassium chloride that the state was aware of but failed to disclose to the inmates or the court.

The suit includes an August 2019 email exchange between prison officials that indicated the potassium chloride was not mixing correctly.

The incorrect mixing of the three drugs can lead to a painful injection, described as “injecting rocks into the veins,” the suit cites. As a result, the drug meant to stop the heart might not circulate properly, and the inmate would die from suffocation.

In 2018, in response to another lawsuit brought forth by 33 death row inmates, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that there was no evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and that the inmates who brought the suit failed to prove the drug cocktail creates a “demonstrated risk of severe pain.”