In episode 5 of Show Cause, we're joined by Professor Daniel Kiel to discuss the long and ongoing history of the Pervis Payne case, in which he has played several parts over the course of his career, both in the private sector and as an academic.

Pervis Payne has spent the last 34 years on Death Row in Tennessee for a double murder in Millington, TN in 1987.

Ironically, COVID-19 might be the reason he’s no longer there.

He was supposed to be executed on December 3rd, 2020, but on November 6 of that year, all executions in Tennessee were suspended due to the pandemic.

That delay allowed Payne’s attorneys to pursue several legal angles geared towards permanently removing him from death row.

When Payne's case went to the Supreme Court in 1991 on a technical criminal procedure question about sentencing, he was represented by attorneys at Burch, Porter, and Johnson. When Professor Kiel started working at Burch Porter early in his career, the firm was still affiliated with the case and assigned him to handle a request to pursue DNA testing for Payne under a newly-enacted statute that enabled convicted defendants to get DNA testing if it might impact their conviction. He argued the case at the TN Court of Criminal Appeals in 2007, but sadly came up unsuccessful.

However, he continued to follow the case through its evolution over the years, and when Payne's execution date was set in early 2020, he was put back in touch with the current legal team. Throughout the summer and fall of 2020, he worked to generate scholarship on the unusual constitutional position into which the Payne case fell, dealing with his intellectual disability and the unconstitutionality of his status on death row as a result. He went on to publish several pieces raising awareness of this situation as part of a larger campaign to get the previously mentioned statute passed and fill the gap between the US Supreme Court’s decision and the implementation of it in Tennessee. As the legislature considered that statute, he testified in front of the House committee considering the bill. And as you may have seen in the news lately, the statute eventually passed, ultimately resulting in Payne’s removal from Death Row.

Enjoy the show as you learn more about the case itself and more of Professor Kiel's history with it!

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Show Cause - A Memphis Law PodcastBy Memphis LawFeb 22, 2022