Nashville, Tenn. - The Tennessee Supreme Court has one case set for its November 6, 2024 docket in Jackson, Tennessee. The case will be heard at the Tennessee Supreme Court building in Jackson, beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT. The case will be livestreamed to the TNCourts YouTube page at: www.youtube.com/@TNCourts/featured. The details of the case are as follows:
• State of Tennessee v. Pervis Tyrone Payne – In 1988, a jury convicted Pervis Tyrone Payne of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault with intent to commit murder. He was sentenced to death for the murder convictions. The trial court imposed a thirty-year sentence for the assault conviction and ordered all sentences to run consecutively based on a finding that Mr. Payne was a dangerous offender. The convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal. Later, in 2021, the General Assembly amended Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-203(g) to provide a process for showing that a death row inmate is ineligible for the death penalty due to an intellectual disability. Mr. Payne filed a petition under the amended statute for a determination of intellectual disability. After its expert conducted an evaluation, the State conceded that Mr. Payne meets the statutory definition of intellectual disability and is no longer eligible for the death penalty. The parties agreed that Mr. Payne must receive two life sentences but disagreed whether the sentences should be served consecutively or concurrently. Over the State’s objections, the trial court ordered a new sentencing hearing to determine the issue. After the hearing, the trial court found that Mr. Payne was no longer a dangerous offender and ordered the murder sentences to run concurrently. The State appealed, and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. The Tennessee Supreme Court granted the State’s application for permission to appeal to determine whether a trial court has jurisdiction to reconsider the consecutive alignment of a defendant’s original sentences after a determination of intellectual disability pursuant to a petition under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-203(g).
Media members planning to attend oral arguments should review Supreme Court Rule 30 and file any required requests to:
Samantha Fisher
Communications Director
Administrative Office of the Courts
Samantha.fisher@tncourts.gov