Entries tagged with “Shelby County, TN”
Issues
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 misconduct. In an August 4, 2022 election viewed as a major victory for criminal justice reform advocates, voters ended Weirich’s bid for a new eight-year term as county prosecutor, replacing her with University of Memphis law professor and former county commissioner, Steve Mulroy.
Issues
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 five years. The sentencing order, issued by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan on January 31, 2022, follows decades of litigation over whether Payne, who is intellectually disabled, was even subject to the death penalty. County prosecutors fought to execute Payne for more than three…
Issues
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 county’s judges, Tennessee death-row prisoner Pervis Payne (pictured) has moved to disqualify the Shelby County District Attorney General’s office from further participation in his case. Payne is awaiting a scheduled December 13, 2021 court hearing to determine whether he is ineligible for…
Issues
Feb 05, 2021
Tennessee Criminal Appeals Court Hears Appeal for Posthumous DNA Testing in Sedley Alley Case
Lawyers for the daughter of a man executed by Tennessee have asked a state appeals court to permit DNA testing that could prove his innocence. In a virtual hearing before the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals on February 3, 2021 (see picture), former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement urged the court to order DNA testing that, he argued, could exonerate Sedley Alley. Alley, who was executed in 2006, had been convicted of rape and murder in the death of 19-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne…
Issues
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‑year-old daughter, Lacie, and seriously wounded her 3‑year-old son, Nicholas. In a statement issued on January 19, 2021, Payne’s lawyers from the Innocence Project and the Middle District of Tennessee federal defender’s office said that “[m]ale DNA from an unknown third party was found on…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,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 scheduled by any state in 2020, assuring that states will carry out fewer executions in 2020 than in any other year since 1983. Lee issued a temporary reprieve on November 6, 2020 that will remain in effect until April 9, 2021. A short statement released by the governor in connection with…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,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 disabled and who has been denied access to the courts to review those claims. A growing coalition of state legislators, legal associations, faith leaders, and community groups in Memphis have called for the courts to permit DNA testing that could potentially exonerate Pervis Payne…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,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 prisoner Pervis Payne (pictured). Payne, who is scheduled to be executed on December 3, 2020, has steadfastly denied committing the crime. The lawyers argue that his conviction and death sentence are the combined product of racial bias by a prosecutor’s office with an…