Payne V. Tennessee Case Study

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This case of Payne v. Tennessee is about a man named Pervis Tyrone Payne being charged with two first degree murders, attempted murder, and a count of assault on his neighbor Charisse Christopher aged 28 and her two children Lacie, age 2, and Nicholas, age 3. Payne lived with his girlfriend Bobbie Thomas across from the family in an apartment complex. The incident happened on June 27, 1987 after Payne several attempts to see if his girlfriend has returned home from a trip to Arkansas. He has his sleeping bag with him that contained three cans of malt liquid.

During the morning hours had drunk beer and injected himself with cocaine. In the afternoon, he drove around with friends reading pornographic magazines. He returned to the apartment complex around 3 pm. This is when Payne made entrance into the Christopher which he tried to make sexual advances towards Charisse. Charisse refused these advances and she screamed at him to leave. Police were called when a downstairs neighbor heard the struggle and screaming.

Police arrived Payne ran from the apartment and inside where the bodies of Charisse and her daughter in the kitchen and Nicholas wounded. Charisse and Lacie were dead at the scene but Nicholas survived after multiple surgeries and transfusions of blood. Charisse had multiple wounds from a butcher knife and
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John T. Huston as witnesses at sentencing. Bobbie explained that he was a very caring man and was there for her when she was dealing with the abuse of her husband. She said he was a good father figure to her three children and it was out of his character to drink or do drugs. Dr. Huston stated that Payne had a low IQ and was “mentally handicapped”. He also stated he was not psychopathic or schizophrenic and one of the nicest prisoners he ever met. It was also stated that he had no prior criminal history, use of alcohol or drugs, and was stated to be good with