John —

Ten years ago today, Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia despite mounting evidence pointing to his innocence.

Troy, a Black man, was convicted in 1991 for the murder of an off-duty police officer based mostly on eyewitness testimony. But since the conviction, seven of the nine eyewitnesses have recanted their testimony. We know that eyewitness misidentification is a major factor in wrongful convictions. In fact, three-quarters of cases overturned through DNA testing involved eyewitnesses who mistakenly identified the wrong person.

Unfortunately, Troy’s story isn’t unique. According to data from the National Registry of Exonerations, dozens of people sentenced to death have been exonerated since 2011 — most of them Black men wrongfully accused of murder. In fact, innocent Black people are seven times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than innocent white people.

These racial disparities are pervasive in our criminal legal system, and we’ve seen them play out in Pervis Payne’s case, as well.

Pervis is a Black man living with an intellectual disability who was sentenced to death for the murder of a white woman — a crime he’s always maintained he did not commit. He’s been on death row for more than 30 years in Tennessee, even though executing someone with an intellectual disability is unconstitutional.

The prosecution in Pervis’ case relied on racist stereotypes to portray him as a hypersexual drug user to convict him despite the fact that he had no history of violence or drug use.

We can’t let what happened to Troy happen to Pervis. Please contact the D.A. and tell them you want justice for Pervis Payne.

Thank you for your support,

— The Innocence Project Team