We just got some important news: The Shelby County Criminal Court ordered DNA testing of the crime scene evidence in Pervis Payne’s case.
The state of Tennessee is currently scheduled to execute Pervis, a Black man with an intellectual disability, on Dec. 3, 2020. He has maintained his innocence from the beginning, and this evidence, which has never been tested for DNA, could help prove it.
When DNA evidence exists in a death penalty case, as it does here, it should always be tested to avoid the irreversible act of executing an innocent person.
But Pervis shouldn’t be on death row to begin with, because the U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of anyone with an intellectual disability. We’re committed to pursuing justice for Pervis in every way we can — that’s why yesterday, his legal team filed a complaint to prevent Tennessee from carrying out his execution until he is given the chance to show his intellectual disability diagnosis to the court.
There will be many updates to come in this case as we get closer to Pervis’ scheduled execution date. The DNA testing of this evidence can be completed within 60 days, and today, the court agreed that DNA testing excluding Pervis from several items of crime scene evidence could undermine confidence in the jury’s verdict and identify potential alternate suspects. The DNA evidence is a critical piece of securing justice in this case, which has been marred by racism from the start.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
