The Tennessee state legislature has overwhelmingly approved and sent to the governor a bill that creates a procedure by which death-row prisoners can obtain judicial review of claims that they are ineligible for the death penalty because of intellectual disability. On April 26, 2021, HB 1062 passed the Tennessee House by a vote of 89-4
and the Senate by a vote of 28-1.
The bipartisan bill was inspired by the case of Pervis Payne (pictured), a Tennessee death-row prisoner with strong evidence of intellectual disability. Payne has repeatedly attempted to obtain court review of his intellectual disability claim. However, a defect in Tennessee law prevents death-row prisoners from presenting those claims to the state courts if their death sentences had already been upheld on appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the death penalty could not be used against individuals with intellectual disability.
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I am not alone in thinking this matter urgent. In December, more than three dozen members of Congress called on the soon-to-be president to add the federal death penalty to his day one agenda.
Biden should take up their call to action. Doing so would be a fitting rejoinder to Donald Trump’s unseemly lame duck execution spree. It would also be a powerful signal of Biden’s intention to end racial discrimination in America’s criminal justice system.
Federal capital prosecutions are like those at the state level tainted by racism.
A Department of Justice study published in 2000 found significant racial disparities in the department’s own handling of capital charging decisions. It reported that from 1995 to 2000, minority defendants were involved in 80 percent of the cases federal prosecutors referred to the department for consideration as capital prosecutions. In 72 percent of the cases approved for prosecution, the defendants were persons of color.