TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Feb 1, 2022

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan has ruled that former death row inmate Pervis Payne will serve his two life sentences concurrently, making him eligible for parole in five years, the Commercial Appeal reports. Payne was removed from death row after the Shelby County District Attorney’s office dropped its pursuit of the death penalty following a state expert’s assessment that Payne has an intellectual disability. District Attorney General Amy Weirich is seeking to appeal Skahan’s ruling. Weirich said the new statute that “removed the one-year statute of limitations on claims of intellectual disability” doesn’t “authorize changing the original trial judge’s ruling that multiple sentences in the case should be consecutive.” Payne’s attorney, federal public defender Kelley Henry, said she and her legal team will continue to investigate the case in hopes of exonerating Payne.