Killer Sentenced To Life In Prison

A man who killed a gang member and then two other people to eliminate them as witnesses has been sentenced to life in prison.

Vincent J. Sherrill, 24, had narrowly escaped the death penalty when jurors couldn’t agree unanimously, as required, that he should be executed. The jury’s vote Wednesday was 11-1.

On Friday, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Waldo Stone sentenced Sherrill to life in the May 1994 shootings deaths of Martino Smith, Quantika Grisby and Tarrell Webster.

“I’m very angry with you,” Grisby’s mother, Jean Duvall, told Sherrill. “I forgive you because I’m Christian, but I’m angry with you for asking for mercy.”

Sherrill had asked the jury to spare his life for his mother’s sake.

Prosecutors had alleged that Sherrill shot Webster because Webster had criticized another gang member.