A January 2022 trial date has been set for the man accused in the 2010 killing of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright. Billy Ray Turner is charged with conspiring with Wright s ex-wife in the slaying.
The Fight Over Tennesseeâs Death Penalty Goes On The cases of Pervis Payne and Sedley Alley highlight issues of intellectual disability and possible innocence Tweet
Pervis Payne
Pervis Payne was less than a month away from his Dec. 3 execution date when Gov. Bill Lee called it off. Prison officials had already come to see Payne on death row to ask him to choose between lethal injection and the electric chair. When Lee granted Payne a temporary reprieve on Nov. 6, he didnât cite the serious and longstanding questions about Payneâs guilt or what his attorneys say is well-documented intellectual disability â the reprieve came âdue to the challenges and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.â
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Shortly after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a new measure creating a legislative mechanism to allow death row inmates to appeal their sentences on grounds of intellectual disability, Pervis Payne s attorneys have filed a new petition in his case.
The petition, filed Wednesday in Shelby County Criminal Court, argues that Payne is ineligible for the death penalty due to his intellectual disability.
Supporters of Payne are also calling on Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich to agree that Payne is a person with intellectual disability.
Payne, who is being held on death row in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, is convicted of the 1987 deaths of Millington woman Charisse Christopher, 28, and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie. Christopher’s 3-year-old son, Nicholas, survived multiple stab wounds in the brutal attack that took place in Christopher’s apartment.