DPIC | Death Penalty Information Center

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Sep 14, 2020

Black Legislators, Legal Associations, Faith Leaders, and Community Groups Call for DNA Testing/Intellectual Disability Hearing that Could Take Pervis Payne Off Tennessee’s Death Row

Leaders in the Tennessee African-American community are urging Governor Bill Lee and the state and federal courts to halt the execution of a Black death-row prisoner who may be both innocent and intellectually di…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Sep 21, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of September 14, 2020

NEWS (9/17/20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has denied post-conviction relief to Ken Lott, retroactiv…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Race

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Upcoming Executions

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Nov 09, 2020

Citing COVID-19, Governor Grants Reprieve to Tennessee Death-Row Prisoner Pervis Payne

Citing the coronavirus pandemic, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has granted a temporary reprieve to death-row prisoner Pervis Payne, halting his scheduled December 3, 2020 execution. The execution was the last schedu…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Race

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Clemency

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Recent Legislative Activity

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Apr 02, 2021

Clemency Efforts for Pervis Payne Gain Widespread Support as Execution Reprieve Set to Expire

Clemency efforts on behalf of Tennessee death-row prisoner Pervis Payne (pictured) are surging, as a petition on his behalf by The Innocence Project had collected more than 600,000 signatures by M…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Aug 31, 2023

Court Ruling Makes Formerly Death-Sentenced Pervis Payne Eligible for Parole in Four Years

On August 30, 2023, the Tennessee Criminal Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that formerly death-sentenced prisoner Pervis Payne can serve his two life sentences concurrently, making him eligible to apply for parole in less than fou…

Executions

Upcoming Executions

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Conditions on Death Row

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Federal Death Penalty

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Dec 03, 2020

COVID-19 Prison Outbreaks Kill Death-Row Prisoners in Ohio and Missouri and Infect At Least 11 on Tennessee’s Death Row

New COVID-19 outbreaks on the nation’s death rows have killed prisoners in Ohio and Missouri and sickened at least 11 men on Tennessee’s death row. James Frazier (picture…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Race

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Jan 22, 2021

Defense Lawyers Say DNA Tests Point to ‘Unknown Male’ as Likely Killer in Tennessee Death-Row Prisoner Pervis Payne’s Case

Lawyers for Tennessee death-row prisoner Pervis Payne say DNA testing in his 30-year-old case points to an “unknown male” and excludes Payne as the person who stabbed to death Charisse Christopher and her 2‑yea…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Race

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Upcoming Executions

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Jul 24, 2020

Defense Seeks DNA Testing for Pervis Payne, Alleging Racism, Hidden Evidence, and Intellectual Disability Led to Wrongful Conviction

The Innocence Project and federal defenders have filed a motion in a Shelby County, Tennessee trial court seeking DNA testing of physical evidence hidden by prosecutors for 30 years that they believe will exonerate death-row priso…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Race

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DPIC Reports

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Upcoming Executions

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Foreign Nationals

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Federal Death Penalty

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Dec 04, 2020

DPIC Analysis — Intellectually Disabled Defendants of Color, Foreign Nationals Disproportionately Subject to the Death Penalty

Defendants of color and foreign nationals who are intellectually disabled are disproportionately likely to be sentenced to death, a Death Penalty Information Center analysis of cases involving intellectually disabled defendants suggests. …

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Prosecutorial Accountability

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Race

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May 06, 2020

In Case Permeated with Race Bias, Tennessee Plans to Execute Possibly Innocent and Intellectually Disabled Black Man in Murder of White Woman

Pervis Payne (pictured) was young, black, and, he says, in the wrong place at the wrong time. The son of a minister, he is on death row in Tennessee, convicted of the horrific murders of a white woman and her two-…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Feb 02, 2022

Judge Resentences Pervis Payne to Concurrent Life Terms, Making Him Eligible for Parole in Five Years After 34 Years on Tennessee’s Death Row

A Memphis judge has resentenced Pervis Payne to two concurrent life sentences, making the former Tennessee death-row prisoner who has long maintained his innocence eligible to apply for parole in…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Nov 22, 2021

Memphis Prosecutors Concede Pervis Payne Ineligible for Death Penalty Because of Intellectual Disability

After years of seeking to execute Tennessee death-row prisoner Pervis Payne (pictured) for a double-murder he has long insisted he did not commit, the Shelby County District Attorney’s office has …

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Recent Legislative Activity

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Apr 15, 2021

NEWS BRIEF — Tennessee Legislative Committees Approve Intellectual Disability Bill

On April 14, 2021, committees in both chambers of the Tennessee legislature voted to advance bills that would create a legal mechanism for death-row prisoners to challenge their death sentences on the grounds that they have intell…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Recent Legislative Activity

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May 13, 2021

Pervis Payne Petitions to Vacate His Death Sentence Under New Tennessee Intellectual Disability Law

One day after Governor Bill Lee signed a bill curing a defect in

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Oct 20, 2021

Pervis Payne Seeks Hearing on Whether Shelby County Prosecutors Should be Recused From His Case Based on Trial Prosecutor’s Possible Conflict of Interest

Alleging that Shelby County Assistant District Attorney General Stephen Jones may have been representing the prosecution in his case while simultaneously serving as a capital case staff attorney assisting the coun…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Aug 09, 2022

Shelby County Voters Oust Prosecutor Who Sought to Execute Pervis Payne

Tennessee voters have issued a stunning rebuke to controversial Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich (pictured), ousting her from office after an eleven-year tenure marred by charges of racism and m…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Race

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New Voices

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Jul 19, 2021

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Descendants of Ida B. Wells Call for Freedom for Pervis Payne

As the first court hearing on Pervis Payne’s claim that his death sentence must be vacated because of his intellectual disability was about to get underway, prominent civil rights leaders and relatives of a civil rights icon added…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Recent Legislative Activity

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Apr 27, 2021

Tennessee Legislature Passes Bill to Provide Death-Row Prisoners Court Review of Intellectual Disability Claims

The Tennessee state legislature has overwhelmingly approved and sent to the governor a bill that creates a procedure by which death-row prisoners can obtain judicial review of claims that they are ineligible for the death penalty because of intell…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Mental Illness

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Upcoming Executions

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Feb 26, 2020

Tennessee Sets Execution Dates for Two Men With Issues of Innocence, Intellectual Disability, and Competency

Tennessee has set two more execution dates for 2020, directed, advocates say, at men whose cases present unresolved issues of innocence, intellectual disability, and mental competency.On February 24, 2020, the Tennessee Sup…

Entries tagged with “Pervis Payne”

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