Defense questions qualifications of expert determining Pervis Payne’s fitness for execution
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Death row inmate Pervis Payne was in court Friday for a hearing regarding his intellectual disability case.
Payne is on death row for a conviction in the murders of a Millington mother and her child.
His attorneys claim he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty after the U.S. Supreme Court barred the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. They also maintain Payne’s innocence.
Payne was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation by the state’s medical expert, but the evaluation has yet to take place.
Friday’s hearing took place in two parts. The morning session was recessed because the state hadn’t called the medical expert to testify. Court resumed in the afternoon with Dr. Tucker Johnson on the stand.
The hearing was focused on Johnson’s request for Payne’s prison records, including disciplinary and medical records. She testified she uses records for comprehensive evaluations, looking at as many past behaviors as possible before meeting with a patient for the actual evaluation.
Payne’s defense attorney cited the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and a recent Supreme Court ruling, both of which advise against using prison records to diagnose disabilities because prisons are so structured even individuals with disabilities can be model inmates.
The defense also called into question whether Johnson is qualified to serve as the expert in the case as she is not a certified forensic psychologist nor has she ever conducted her own research, published or presented any research on forensic psychology.
No decision was made Friday, but more questions arose near the end of the hearing when Johnson said she may not be able to complete the evaluation before a Dec. 13 evidentiary hearing. Judge Paula Skahan said the evaluation process was taking too long and Johnson needed to compete it or the state would find someone who could.
Meanwhile, Skahan is working on a decision on Johnson’s records request.
Copyright 2021 WMC. All rights reserved.
