TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Nov 23, 2021

Pervis Payne’s death penalty sentence was officially vacated by the Shelby County Criminal Court this morning, WREG reports. District Attorney Amy Weirich announced last week that her office would drop pursuit of the death penalty against Payne and withdraw a request for a hearing on the issue of his intellectual disability. The office instead will call for imposition of two life sentences. Defense attorney Kelley Henry, who hugged an emotional Payne in court, says she will continue to fight for a full exoneration. Short of that, she will seek to have the two sentences run concurrently, instead of consecutively. A resentencing hearing is set for Dec. 13. Local Memphis.com has video of today’s court proceeding.