TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Mar 11, 2021

A bill that would allow mentally disabled people on death row to challenge their sentence is being considered by a House subcommittee, WPLN reports. The Tennessee Black Caucus filed House Bill 1/Senate Bill 1236 in November to shield intellectually disabled people convicted of a crime from the death penalty. It is now being considered by the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. The bill has been backed by several high-profile figures, including the president of the American Bar Association and former independent prosecutor of the Whitewater investigation, Ken Starr. Although state law no longer allows those with an I.Q. of 70 or below to be executed, federal public defender Kelley Henry told lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday that the bill was needed to provide the same protection for people who have already been sentenced. The state Black Caucus filed the bill on behalf of Pervis Payne, a man with intellectual disabilities who is scheduled to die in April.