Paris, Tenn.–24th District Attorney Matt Stowe has issued a public statement on his firing this week of Assistant DA Rebecca Griffey at a pre-trial conference for an ongoing murder case in Henry County Circuit Court.
Stowe said the decision was a difficult one and was “taken in response to complaints and after all reasonable options had been taken to avoid this result.”
In his statement, Stowe said, ““This office made the decision to terminate longstanding employee. This action was taken in response to complaints and after all reasonable options had been taken to avoid this result. As your District Attorney, I will always be ready to make tough decisions to ensure that violent offenders will receive the toughest possible sentences. Our office will continue to see that justice is served to those who break the laws and harm citizens in the 24th Judicial District. My staff and I will continue to fully support law enforcement.”
He said he has appointed Stephanie Hale as the Chief Assistant District Attorney to replace Griffey.
In an unprecedented action, Stowe terminated Griffey at a pre-trial conference Wednesday for the ongoing first-degree murder case against James Caddell, who is accused of killing his wife Stella in 2020. Caddell, of Puryear, is 77 and has been held without bond in the Henry County Jail.
As we reported earlier, Stowe reportedly had the termination notice in writing and gave it to Griffey at the pre-trial conference, which was being held between the parties in the Henry County Circuit Court courtroom.
Another ADA Stephanie Hale, was called to the court and the pre-trial conference resumed. A new date for the pre-trial conference has been set for July 18.
As we reported earlier, Griffey issued a statement Thursday on the firing, calling it “politically motivated”.
In her statement, which was released to RadioNWTN on Thursday morning, Griffey said, “It is very disheartening to be a political pawn in an effort to influence an election. In my opinion, yesterday’s actions on the part of Matt Stowe were politically motivated. My termination yesterday came on the heels of a post on Facebook the evening before wherein (Henry County) Sheriff Frey endorsed Neil Thompson for District Attorney and made a statement that ‘Weak plea deals lead to unsafe streets.’ I had absolutely nothing to do with the weak plea deals to which Sheriff Frey referred, and Sheriff Frey made that clear to Matt Stowe in a telephone communication immediately preceding my termination.”
Nevertheless, Griffey said, “Matt Stowe announced in court before numerous witnesses that he had no choice but to terminate me due to Sheriff Frey’s statement in his social media endorsement of Neil Thompson. The manner in which this was handled was highly unprofessional and inappropriate – being done in court publicly in front of numerous people at the time of a Circuit Court hearing on a first degree murder case. It is also in violation of the law. Sadly, the only victory that happened yesterday was one for the inmates at the Henry County Jail, who are unquestionably rejoicing that one of the toughest prosecutors with whom they have dealt who has demanded some of the stiffest sentences is no longer prosecuting them, and I believe any law enforcement officer in Henry County would support that statement.”