Judge to determine how Pervis Payne will serve life sentences
Rolanda Holman remembers being 13 years old, listening to the judge sentence her brother, Pervis Payne, to death by the electric chair.
The judge said, “May God have mercy on his soul,” Holman recalled.
Thirty-four years later, Holman and her family know that Payne won’t be dying by the death penalty after Judge Paula Skahan signed an order Tuesday vacating his capital sentence.
“So I’m grateful that for 34 years later, God did have mercy on his soul,” Holman said. “That brings me great, just excitement. I know we’re almost over the hump, but we will not stop until he is a free man and he walks through those doors and he will be standing here giving you his own personal statement.”
Skahan’s action came after the Shelby County District Attorney’s office announced Thursday that it was dropping its pursuit of the death penalty against Payne after a state expert examined Payne and records “and could not say that Payne’s intellectual functioning is outside the range for intellectual disability,” according to a news release.
Both the U.S. and Tennessee supreme courts have ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute someone with an intellectual disability. In April, Tennessee legislators created a law allowing death row inmates like Payne to appeal their sentences on intellectual disability grounds.
Since the court finds that Payne is a person with intellectual disability, his capital sentence must be vacated, Skahan wrote in her order.
On Tuesday, Payne hugged his attorney Kelley Henry upon entering the courtroom, starting to break down in tears.
“He just said thank you over and over again,” Henry recalled later.
“I’ve got you,” she replied.
Payne will serve two life sentences in prison for the murders of Charisse and Lacie Christopher.
However, whether those sentences will be concurrent or consecutive is currently being debated.
Steve Jones, assistant district attorney, argued Tuesday that a transcript of the original sentencing 34 years ago shows the judge saying that Payne’s sentences ought to be served consecutively.
That, Henry said, would make Payne ineligible for parole until he is 85.
Henry argued, however, that precedent shows the court has the discretion to rule his sentences should be carried out at the same time, which would make him eligible for parole in about six years.
“Consecutive sentencing would be an effective life without parole for Mr. Payne and we suggest that would not be justice for him and his family,” Henry said. “Elder Carl Payne deserves a chance to hug his son as a free man. And we will continue our fight to exonerate Mr. Payne.”
A hearing will be held Dec. 13 to determine whether the life sentences should be held consecutively or concurrently.
Payne, who is being held in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, is convicted of the 1987 deaths of Millington woman Charisse Christopher, 28, and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie. Christopher’s 3-yearold son, Nicholas, survived multiple stab wounds in the brutal attack that took place in Christopher’s apartment.
Payne has maintained his innocence. In his 1988 trial, Payne said that he discovered the gruesome crime scene after hearing calls for help through the open door of the apartment.
He said he bent down to try to help, getting blood on his clothes and pulling at the knife still lodged in Christopher’s throat. When a white police officer arrived, Payne, who is Black, said he panicked and ran, fearing he would be seen as the prime suspect.
Carl Payne, Pervis Payne’s father, said the family has been praying for 34 years for the news they received last week.
“God is so merciful and so kind and so loving and so understanding that he can wait 34 years and is never late and on time,” he said. “We praise him for that.”