Federal Judge Allows Chalmers to Appeal Death Sentence - Articles

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Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 10, 2022

U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris this week granted a stay in federal court proceedings for Tyrone Chalmers, who was convicted in 1997 of robbing and killing a man in Shelby County, and is now on death row. The stay allows Chalmers to once again pursue arguments in state court that Tennessee lacks authority to execute him because of an intellectual disability, the Associated Press reports. Previous attempts have failed, and the Tennessee Supreme Court has rejected efforts to reopen post-conviction proceedings for him. Norris said the state’s recent law allowing retroactive application of a prohibition on execution of the intellectually disabled now provides a mechanism for Chalmers to pursue a mental disability claim.