Former death row inmate now parole-eligible in 5 years

By ADRIAN SAINZ
Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — An intellectually disabled former Tennessee death row inmate will be eligible for parole in about five years after a judge re-sentenced him to serve two life sentences to run at the same time. Pervis Payne received the new sentences after he was removed from death row by a judge in November based on decisions by two court-appointed experts that Payne was intellectually disabled and could not be executed. Payne was convicted of first-degree murder and received the death penalty for the 1987 slayings of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo, who were repeatedly stabbed in their Millington apartment and left in a pool of blood.