Pervis Payne, a Black man with an intellectual disability, has been on death row in Tennessee for 33 years — but he’s always maintained his innocence. In November 2020, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee granted Pervis a temporary reprieve of his execution. That reprieve ends on April 9, which means the State will be able to set a new execution date for him at any moment.
Pervis Payne in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee. Photo courtesy of PervisPayne.Org.
Pervis’ case has all the elements of a wrongful conviction and death sentence. He’s a Black man with an intellectual disability who was accused of murdering a white woman in a county with a long history of racial violence and biased criminal justice. At his trial, the prosecution played into racist stereotypes and withheld exculpatory evidence.
People with intellectual disabilities are at special risk for wrongful conviction and execution, which is why the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute anyone with an intellectual disability in 2002, because it violates the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
But currently, there is no mechanism for Pervis to present his intellectual disability claim in state court in Tennessee. Right now, Tennessee lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a process to present such claims, but we aren’t there yet.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
