Appeals court agrees that a former Tennessee death row inmate can be eligible for parole in 4 years

By ADRIAN SAINZ
Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee appeals court has upheld a judge’s ruling that allows a former death row inmate to be eligible for parole in four years after spending more than three decades in prison. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals decided Wednesday that Shelby County Judge Paula Skahan properly ruled in January 2022 that Pervis Payne should serve the remainder of two life sentences at the same time, or concurrently, in the killings of a mother and her 2-year-old daughter. The 56-year-old Payne received the new sentences after he was removed from death row by the judge based on decisions by two court-appointed experts that Payne was intellectually disabled and could not be executed.