Paul E. Tirone (born February 8, 1951 in

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...

) is an American politician who was a member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

from 2001 to 2003. He was defeated in the 2002 Democratic primary by Michael A. Costello. Tirone was involved in

exonerating Exoneration occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise. Attempts to exonerate convicts are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially wh ...

the remaining yet-unnamed five victims of the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

, by helping pass an act on October 31, 2001. His wife is a descendant of

Sarah Wildes Sarah Wildes (née Averell/Averill; baptized March 16, 1627 – ) was wrongly convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials and was executed by hanging. She maintained her innocence throughout the process, and was later exonerated. Her hu ...

, one of the condemned witches who was hanged in 1692. He took the opportunity to urge caution on a similar reaction to the then-recent

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, stating, "Sometimes when things like this happen we need to take a breath, and look at it. We just can't paint blame with a wide brush."

References

1951 births Northern Michigan University alumni Northeastern University alumni Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives People from Amesbury, Massachusetts Living people Politicians from Newburyport, Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-MARepresentative-stub