Pervis Payne’s attorneys call on Gov. Lee for mercy: ‘You are the solution to the problem’ – Commercial Appeal

This undated photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Pervis Payne. A new report by a think tank examining executions in the U.S. says death penalty cases show a long history of racial disparity, from who is executed to where and for what crimes. The report also details several case studies in which race may be playing a role today, including Payne, accused of the 1987 stabbing deaths of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo. [Tennessee Department of Correction via AP](Photo: AP)

Attorneys for death row inmate Pervis Payne asked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee for mercy Monday, just two months shy of Payne's scheduled execution.

"Despite clear proof that Mr. Payne is intellectually disabled, a hole in Tennessee procedural law prevents him from adjudicating his intellectual disability," the application for executive clemency reads. "You are the solution to the problem. Because the courts cannot prevent this unconstitutional execution, you are the only one who can stop it. On this basis alone, we ask you to commute Mr. Payne's death sentence."

Payne is scheduled for execution Dec. 3 for the 1987 deaths of Millington woman Charisse Christopher, 28, and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie. Christophers 3-year-old son, Nicholas, survived multiple stab wounds in the brutal attack that took place in Christophers apartment.

Leehas not granted any requests for clemency in a death penalty case since taking office in 2019. So far, there have been four executions during his administration.

A spokesperson for Lee said his office hadreceived the request and will give it a thorough review.

The petition filed Monday asks that Lee commute Payne's sentence to life imprisonment and grant a reprieve until the legislature creates a statute to allow Payne to bring his disability claim before the courts. The Tennessee Black Caucus for State Legislators has drafted such legislation, but cannot introduce it until after Payne's scheduled execution.

For 30 years the defendant has been trying to run from what he did that day run from what a jury sentenced him to," Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said in a written statement."Countless state and federal courts have reviewed this case including the United States Supreme Court. Each time, the same result: they find the evidence against the defendant overwhelming and his explanation unbelievable. That is because you cant outrun the facts of this case the truth about what the defendant did and how this family suffered and is still suffering."

Before the scheduled execution, advocates for Payne also await the results of DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene. The evidence some of which has since been lost has never been tested for DNA, and testing was for the first time approved by a Shelby County judge in mid-September. Testing the DNA on the remaining evidence, including the murder weapon and a tampon removed from Christophers body during the assault, is expected to be completed in mid-November.

Pervis Payne: Judge grants DNA testing in Pervis Payne's Tennessee death penalty case

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Payne has maintained his innocence for 33 years, saying at trial that he heard cries and entered the apartment after the Christophers had been stabbed, where he placed his hand on the knife lodged in Christophers throat, trying to help. When a white police officer arrived, Payne, who is Black, saidhe panicked and ran, fearing he would be seen as the prime suspect.

The Shelby County District Attorney's Office has maintained that regardless of what DNA testing shows, the evidence to convict Payne of the crimes was overwhelming.

An officer saw him leaving the scene of the crime drenched in blood, and Payne admitted to being there. His baseball cap was found looped around the 2-year-old victim's arm, and his fingerprints were found on a beer can inside the apartment.

In federal court, Paynes attorneys have also filed a petition asking the court to prevent his execution until hearing his claim that he is intellectually disabled.

More: Pervis Payne asks for halt to execution until courts hear intellectual disability claim

Joann White participates in a rally on Union Avenue for death row inmate Pervis Payne in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Payne is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 3,(Photo: Ariel Cobbert/ The Commercial Appeal)

Both the Tennessee Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled against executing people with intellectual disabilities, but Paynes multiple attempts to have his claim heard have been denied for procedural reasons, according to the complaint.

According to that complaint,a 2019 analysis by a forensic psychologist concluded that Payne had an IQ score of 72 and a lower score of 68.4 when corrected for outdated testing norms.

Tennessee law includes an IQ of 70 or below in its definition of intellectual disability, as well that the disability must have been manifested during the developmental period or by 18 years of age.

In her statement, Weirich wrote that "At the time he brutally Charisse Christopher, her 2 year old daughter and left her 4 year old son for dead, (Payne's) IQ was 78. He knew full well what he was doing."

The application filed Monday by Payne's attorney also notes that while DNA testing is ongoing, "critical evidence ... are unaccounted for." The missing evidence includes the victims' clothing and vaginal swabs.

"Perhaps most disturbing of all, is the fact that the victim's fingernail scrapings have vanished into thin air," the application reads. "That this critical evidence is missing, together with all of the questions surrounding this case, is sufficient reason to commute Mr. Payne's death sentence. A person should not be put to death where the State has so badly mishandled the evidence."

Paynes case has drawn the support of a large coalition of advocates, led by the Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association. The coalition includes the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, Memphis Chapter of the NAACP, the Memphis Bar Association, 100 Black Men of Memphis, National Council of Negro Women (Memphis Chapter), Stand for Children Tennessee, Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH) and several leaders in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), of which Payne is a member.

Attached to the application are letters of support from several of those organizations, other faith leaders, the Tennessee Disability Coalition, Tennessee Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Equal Justice USA.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

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Pervis Payne's attorneys call on Gov. Lee for mercy: 'You are the solution to the problem' - Commercial Appeal