TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Oct 6, 2020

Two months shy of his execution date, Pervis Payne’s legal team is asking Gov. Bill Lee to grant the death row inmate clemency, the Commercial Appeal reports. In their application for executive clemency, Payne’s lawyers say Tennessee law prevents Payne from “adjudicating his intellectual disability.” The petition asks Lee to be “the solution to the problem,” by commuting Payne’s sentence to life imprisonment until the legislature creates a statute that would allow  him to bring his disability before the courts. The Tennessee Black Caucus for State Legislators has drafted such legislation, but cannot introduce it until after Payne's Dec. 3 execution date. Payne’s defense team is also awaiting results from DNA testing being conducted on certain evidence from the crime scene. That testing, which was approved by a Shelby County judge last month, is expected to be completed by mid-November.