State Rep. Paul Sherrell (R-Sparta) has apologized after making a statement in Tuesday’s House Criminal Justice Committee meeting suggesting death inmates should be executed by “hanging by a tree.”

Sherrell’s comments took place while discussing an amendment to a bill that would allow death row inmates to be executed with a firing squad, which is currently not allowed in Tennessee. Rep. Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro) who sponsored the bill, explained that the inmate would likely have a target placed over their heart and be restrained in a chair. TDOC staff members would line up with guns, one loaded with a blank to obscure who fired the fatal shot.

Sherrel added, “I was just wondering, could I put an amendment on that that would include hanging by a tree, also?”

He then offered to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill.

On Wednesday, Sherrell released a statement that said, “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.”