From Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich:
On Saturday afternoon June 27, 1987, a 20-year-old man named Pervis Payne attacked a mother and her two young children in their Millington apartment. Proof would show that Payne killed 28-year-old Charisse Christopher, who had more than 80 knife wounds, and her 2-year-old daughter Lacie, who also was stabbed to death.
Payne’s ball cap was found intertwined on baby Lacie’s arm. Three-year-old Nicholas Christopher survived his numerous stab wounds after undergoing multiple surgeries.
Residents who heard the commotion called police. An officer who was in the area responded within minutes and confronted Payne as he ran down the stairs at the apartment. The officer recalled that Payne “looked like he was sweating blood.” Payne pushed the officer and ran away, but was captured a short time later hiding in an attic.
A year later, a Criminal Court jury convicted Payne on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault to commit first-degree murder. The jury sentenced Payne to death for each murder. He also received 30 years in prison for the assault.
The jury rejected Payne’s testimony that he was covered with blood that day because he was trying to help the victims. He testified had his hand on the murder weapon-knife because he was trying to remove it from Charisse Christopher’s throat.
For 34 years the conviction and death sentences have been reviewed by state and federal appeals courts multiple times. The Tennessee Supreme Court called Payne’s self-serving testimony “unbelievable and contrary to human conduct and experience.” The U.S. Supreme Court called the evidence against Payne “overwhelming and relatively uncontroverted.”
DNA tests and arguments by the defense have failed to exonerate him.
While the evidence of Payne’s guilt has never changed or weakened, the laws regarding alleged intellectual disability as it relates to the death penalty have changed. His IQ at the time of his 1988 trial was measured at 78.
Currently pending before the Criminal Court is Payne’s defense argument that he is intellectually disabled, and thus under the law cannot be executed.
A state expert examined Payne and available records, and could not say Payne’s intellectual functioning is outside the range for intellectual disability.
We received this information last week, thoroughly reviewed the findings, and we met with the victims’ family this week to explain the current reality with which we are now faced. The family was not happy, but they understand.
We can’t change the facts and we can’t change the law.
So today, after weighing the totality of circumstances, we have filed notice with the Criminal Court that the state is hereby withdrawing its request for a hearing on the issue of intellectual disability.
This means that the death penalty for Pervis Payne will be removed and replaced with two consecutive sentences of life in prison for the murders of Charisse and Lacie Christopher.
