TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jan 20, 2021

Nashville native Robert Sherrill was among the 100-plus individuals receiving last-minute pardons from outgoing President Donald Trump last night, the Tennessean reports. Sherrill was previously convicted on drug charges and granted clemency by then-Gov. Bill Haslam in 2019. Haslam's action also covered Sherrill's 2002 escape from a Department of Children's Services home. The White House explained the presidential pardon saying Sherrill “has taken full responsibility for his criminal past and received treatment for his drug addiction." Sherrill has since started a commercial cleaning business and a nonprofit organization that mentors at-risk youth. Sherrill's lawyer, David Raybin, said in 40 years practicing law and helping with clemency cases, he'd never seen someone get both a state and a federal pardon. "It's extremely rare," he said. In addition, former Comprehensive Pain Specialists CEO John Davis of Franklin received a commutation of his sentence, which was imposed after he was found guilty of orchestrating a kickback scheme that defrauded Medicare by $4.6 million. Davis had served four of the 42 months to which he was sentenced, the Nashville Post reports.