John —
Pervis Payne, a Black man with an intellectual disability has been on Tennessee’s death row for more than 30 years despite his strong claims of innocence.
The State had been disputing his claim of an intellectual disability, but late yesterday, the Shelby County District Attorney finally conceded that Pervis Payne is a person with an intellectual disability, and that he cannot be executed. He will soon be removed from death row.
Kelley Henry, Pervis’ attorney, made the following statement:
“As a person with an intellectual disability, Pervis Payne cannot be executed under our Constitution. We are grateful to the Tennessee legislature, under Rep. G.A. Hardaway’s leadership, for passing a new law to allow Mr. Payne to present evidence of his intellectual disability in court, and to Governor Lee for signing the bill into law. The Shelby County District Attorney was right to drop its request for a hearing on Mr. Payne’s intellectual disability. The D.A.’s concession will avoid years of needless litigation.
“We look forward to Mr. Payne’s resentencing hearing. This is some measure of justice for Mr. Payne and his family, but our fight for full exoneration of this innocent man will continue.”
Take a moment to share the news on Twitter [[link removed]] and Instagram [[link removed], and learn more about Pervis’ case:
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While we are relieved and happy about this news, the fight for justice still continues, and we won’t stop until Pervis is free.
Thank you for being by our side.
With deep gratitude,
— The Innocence Project
P.S. You can show your support for Pervis and his family by purchasing Free Pervis Payne gear — check out the merch now:
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Started in 1992 as a legal clinic at Cardozo School of Law, the Innocence Project is now an independent nonprofit, affiliated with Cardozo, that exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
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