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crimemind · 4 years

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Pervis Tyrone Payne

You can listen to the United States of Crime episode (#2) about this case here.

TW: MURDER, MURDER OF CHILDREN, DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE

The Death Penalty has been utilized as a form of punishment since man had a moral code. But today, only 53 countries offer the death penalty as a sentencing option for those convicted of a crime. The majority of countries in the world have either abolished the death penalty entirely or have made it available only in extreme cases. Belarus is the only holdout in Europe and most of the counties making up northeast Africa and the middle east retain the death penalty as a method of punishment. Guatemala, Guyana, and Cuba still practice capital punishment in Central and South America. Many Asian nations, such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand keep the death penalty as an option but only enforce it in rare cases or for specific crimes. America is one of only five first world nations, alongside Japan, China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan, to still actively sentence people to death. The United States stands alone as the only western country to still execute people. Japan only allows the execution of people convicted of murder and especially brutal crimes and the only method of execution is by hanging. India and South Korea also only executed prisoners by hanging. Mainland China offers two methods of execution, death by firing squad or lethal injection. Taiwan executes prisoners using a single handgun aimed at the prisoner’s heart or their brain stem under the ear if they consent to organ donation. Currently, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Peru only exercise the death penalty in extreme cases. The current methods of execution used worldwide include beheading, electrocution, hanging, shooting, and lethal injection.

In 2019, 22 people, all male, were executed in the United States. An additional 34 people were sentenced to death last year and the total number of people on death row across the country is estimated at 2,656. In America, 30 states still have the death penalty and 20 have either abolished it or put a moratorium on capital punishment. On March 23rd, 2020 as I was writing this episode Colorado, which had put a moratorium on capital punishment, voted to abolish the death penalty.

The morality of the death penalty has been a polarizing issue for Americans for decades. The 1972 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. George ruled the death penalty as it was practiced at that time unconstitutional. This decision was based on the inconsistencies in sentencing at the time because defendants who were convicted very different crimes ranging in severity were given death sentences. However, the Supreme Court left it open for States to impose their own death penalties as long as clear standards were provided. In the four years following the Furman ruling, 35 states enacted their own capital punishment laws. Two main types of death penalty laws were written, the first stated clearly which crimes could be punishable by death and how variables in a case should be weighed. These variables include mitigating circumstances and aggravating circumstances. Mitigating factors explain and/or offer an explanation for the crime while aggravating factors reveal the aspects of the crime that are extraordinary and call for a harsher sentence. The second kind of death penalty law that was enacted made capital punishment mandatory for certain so-called capital crimes.

In 1976 the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gregg v. Georgia and upheld the first type of death penalty laws which take into account mitigating and aggravating factors. The ruling struck down the mandatory death penalty laws on the grounds that they were “unduly harsh and rigid”. Executions, which had completely ceased in 1972, resumed in 1977. 50 executions took place between 1977 and 1985 as the Supreme Court heard the case of McCleskey v. Kemp, which dealt with how capital punishment had been utilized in the state of Georgia. The case was based on a study conducted by University of Iowa professor David Baldus who found that African American defendants who were charged with killing white people were given a death sentence seven times as often as white people who had been tried for killing African Americans. The Supreme Court ruled that while there was statistical evidence of racial discrimination, this was not enough to repeal the law. This ruling was based on the finding that the state itself had not encouraged racial discrimination in its courts.

In 2002 the Supreme court ruled on the case of Atkins v. Virginia and found that the execution of people with intellectual disabilities violated the 8th amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. In 2005 the case of Roper v. Simmons was decided by the Supreme Court. This landmark case made it illegal to execute people who were under the age of 18 when they committed their crimes. Crimes that do not result in death are now not death penalty eligible crimes.

This topic is one that I’m deeply interested in and fascinated by and in posts to follow I will discuss other aspects of the Death Penalty in America, such as execution methods and their flaws, the elderly on death row, the appeals process, and the cost of upholding the death penalty. But today’s case relates to the Atkins v. Virginia ruling and the execution of individuals with intellectual disabilities or limitations.

The case we’ll be talking about today is that of Pervis Tyrone Payne. In 1987, Payne, an African American man, was 20-years-old and living in Shelby County, Tennessee. Payne was dating a woman named Bobbie Thomas of Millington, TN and on the morning of Saturday, June 27th, Payne went to Thomas’ apartment at the Hiwasse Apartment complex to wait for her. She had been out of town on a trip and was expected to arrive home that night and the two had plans to spend the weekend together. He brought an overnight bag with three cans of Colt 45 malt liquor with him and left this bag at the door of the apartment. According to the version of events presented later at trial, Payne stayed around the apartment complex for most of the day and spent his time injecting Cocaine and drinking beer. He left the apartment sometime during the day to ride in his friend’s car with him. The two men took turns driving so that while the one in the passenger seat could read a pornographic magazine.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, Payne returned to Thomas’ apartment complex but Thomas was still not home. Across the hall from Thomas lived Charisse Christopher and her two children, 3-year-old Nicholas and 2-year-old Lacie. It is unclear how well Payne knew Christopher from spending time at Thomas’ apartment, it is believed that they had possibly seen one another in passing. Regardless Payne entered the apartment of Charisse Christopher without permission. When Christopher saw Payne in her home she began screaming at him to get out. The apartment complex’s resident manager lived in the unit directly below Christopher’s and heard her screams. She reported hearing a “blood-curdling scream” come from the apartment and called the police. In between making the call and when the police arrived, the manager reported that the screaming had stopped and she had heard someone using the sink in the bathroom of the upstairs unit. Mere minutes after the police were called, the first officer arrived at the scene.

Payne was observed exiting Christopher’s apartment while carrying his shoes, he then picked up his overnight bag, and descended the stairs. The officer approached him at the bottom of the steps and noticed that he was covered in blood the officer later stated: “It looked like he was sweating blood”. The officer stopped Payne and asked him who he was, Payne responded “I’m the complainant”, which doesn’t make any sense. Payne was then asked what was going on upstairs and proceeded to hit the officer with the overnight bag. Payne dropped his shoes and began running away from the apartment building to another one. The officer attempted to catch up with Payne but could not before he disappeared.

Additional officers had arrived on the scene at this point. They entered Christopher’s apartment and found Charisse Christopher Laci, and Nicholas on the kitchen floor. 3-year-old Nicholas had been stabbed multiple times completely through his abdomen but was still breathing. Laci and Charisse were deceased. Charisse had been stabbed an excessive number of times with a butcher’s knife in her abdomen, back, and head. There does not seem to be a consensus on how many times she was stabbed, I found sourced that stated it was 9 times, 42 times, and 84 times. Regardless, it appeared that the fatal injury was a cut through her aorta. She was found lying on her back with her shorts pushed up on her body and a used tampon had been placed next to her. The butcher knife was lying at her feet and her hand and forearm had been stuck through the adjustment strap at the back of Payne’s baseball cap. 2-year-old Laci was found deceased next to her mother, having bled out before help arrived.

Inside of the apartment Police recovered the three cans of Colt 45 malt liquor, which had Payne’s fingerprints on them. Another empty beer can was found outside of the apartment. Additionally, Payne’s fingerprints were found on the telephone and the kitchen counter of Christopher’s apartment. Investigators had the officer’s description of Payne and the search for him began immediately. He was found later the same day in the attic of an ex-girlfriend’s house. As he was escorted out of the house, Payne told the police “Man, I ain’t killed no woman”. Officers noted that Payme had a “wild look about him. His pupils were contracted. He was foaming at the mouth, saliva. He appeared to be very nervous. He was breathing real rapid.” When Payne was taken into custody, he was still wearing blood-soaked clothing and had multiple scratch marks across his chest. His watch also had blood stains on it and in his pockets police found a packet with Cocaine residue, the wrapper from a hypodermic syringe, and the cap of a hypodermic syringe. He had ditched his overnight bag in a nearby dumpster and it was later found with a bloody white shirt inside.

Pervis Payne was charged for the murders of 28-year-old Charisse and 2-year-old Laci Jo. 3-year-old Nicholas survived the attack. Payne was prosecuted for two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. The trial began in 1988 and several neighbors testified as to what they experienced on July 27th, 1987. Multiple people heard Chairsse’s screams and heard someone frantically trying to close the back door to the yard shared by residents. One woman testified that she had seen the hand of someone whom she perceived to be an African American man reach over the yard fence. Below the hand at the wrist was a gold watch, similar in description to the one Payne was wearing when he was apprehended.

The medical examiner testified as to the state of Charisse and Laci’s bodies. He told the court that Charisse was menstruating at the time of her death, hence the used tampon found near her body. He swabbed her vagina and there was acid phosphatase present, which indicated the presence of sperm, but ultimately no sperm was recovered. Acid Phosphatase is found where high concentrations of seminal fluid recently were. Because there was no sperm found in the body, this enzyme could have been left by pre-ejaculate.

Payne took the stand at his own trial, which is extremely rare in murder cases. There are many reasons why Defendants do not testify in murder trials. Most are advised not to by their counsel to avoid self-incrimination, protect from the brutality of cross-examination, and to deprive the prosecution of the opportunity to make the defendant look bad. Payne told the court that he did not hurt any member of the Christopher family. He claimed that another man had pushed by him when he was walking up the stairs and that man had burst into Charisse Christopher’s apartment. He said that he had heard a baby crying and Charisse calling for help. According to Payne, he found the door open and called to Charisse before entering. He described the scene as follows:

“I saw the worst thing I ever saw in my life and like my breath just had--had tooken--just took out of me. . . . she was looking at me. She had the knife in her throat with her hand on the knife like she had been trying to get it out and her mouth was just moving but words had faded away. And I didn’t know what to do”

Payne explained that his clothing had been stained when he tried to remove the butcher knife from Charisse’s neck. He claimed that Charisse was still alive and reached out to him and grabbed his shirt. This unnerved Payne and he fled the apartment when he heard police sirens approaching.

Payne was them cross-examined by the prosecution. He was questioned as to why the left leg of his pants had bloodstains on it. During the exchange, Payne said that Charisse’s blood got on his pants when she “hit the wall”. He asserted that she had grabbed his arms and he recoiled, at which point she fell backward onto the wall and the floor. Payne was asked four times if the blood got on his leg when Charisse fell back into the pool of blood as he had claimed. On the fourth reiteration of the question, Payne changed his answer. He was asked by the prosecuting attorney “Is that what you said, sir, that she got blood on your when she hit the wall?”. Payne then, for the first time, did not affirm that this is what he said. He responded, “I didn’t say she got blood on me when she hit the wall”. The attorney asked if he had not just said the opposite and he responses that he had not said that blood had gotten on him when Charisse “hit the wall”.

This piece of the cross-examination stands out to me. The fact that Payne said the same thing more than four times and then suddenly denied that he had said it is not normal, even if a defendant is lying. It shows that there is some confusion or lack of understanding on Payne’s part.

Payne was ultimately found guilty of all charges. He was eligible for the death penalty. Before sentencing, mitigating and aggravating factors were presented to the court. Payne’s girlfriend, Bobby Thomas, testified that Payne went to church wither her often, which in itself doesn’t really speak to someone’s character, just their belief system. She also told the court that her three children loved Payne and that he was a great father figure to them. She knew him as a caring person that did not use drugs or drink and would never hurt someone.

Payne’s parents also testified. They explained that he had no criminal record whatsoever and had never been arrested. Like Thomas, they testified that Payne did not use drugs or alcohol. He had been a hard worker and assisted his father, who was a painter. They described him as a good son and an exemplary father figure for Thomas’ children.

A clinical psychologist also testified during the sentencing phase. The psychologist had administered an IQ test to Payne. The results showed that Payne’s verbal IQ was 78 and his performance IQ was 82. Generally, the IQ threshold for a diagnosis of intellectual disability commonly referred to as mental retardation is a score of 75. Because of this, Payne was considered by the psychologist to be “mentally handicapped”. He noted that Payne was the most polite prisoner he had ever interviewed.

Along with the aggravating factors of the case, Charisse Christopher’s mother testified to the distress and hardship her daughter and granddaughter’s murders had imposed on her. She told the court that Nicholas, Charisse’s surviving son, still cried for his mother and sister even a year later. Nicholas experienced severe physical and mental trauma from the attack. Payne was sentenced to death for both murder counts and an additional 30 years for the attempted murder of Nicholas.

Payne appealed his sentence to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Payne’s legal team filed the appeal on several grounds. They asserted that the victim impact statement given by Charisse’s mother emotionally influenced the jury against him, thus violating his 8th amendment right of protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The court ruled against Payne and affirmed both of the death sentences. In 1991, Payne appealed his case to the Supreme Court. The question at hand was whether the 8th amendment prohibits the jury in a capital case from considering the impact of the crime of the surviving family members. In a 6 to 3 decision, the court ruled against Payne. This decision effectively overruled the decision in the 1987 case of Booth v Maryland, which had established that such emotional testimony did infringe on a defendant’s 8th amendment rights.

Pervis Tyrone Payne never admitted to the murders and maintains his innocence. He has been living on Death Row in Tennessee ever since, having exhausted all of his appeals. He twice had execution dates set, both in 2007 and before each date arrived he received a stay of execution. In September of 2019, the state of Tennessee filed a motion to set the execution date for Payne for December 3rd, 2020. His legal team filed a 120-page response to the state’s motion to set an execution date in December of 2019. Supervisory Assistant for the Federal Public Defender Kelley J. Henry and Assistance Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit Amy D. Harwell allege that Pervis Payne is “indisputably intellectually disabled” and in adherence to Atkins v. Virginia, his execution would be illegal. In 2019, Payne’s IQ was retested by Dr. Daniel Martell and it was found to be only 72. Dr. Martell identified neurocognitive impairments and adaptive behavior deficits in Payne that had been documented at the age onset.

Dr. Martell explained that a factor at play in this case in something known as the Flynn Effect. The Flynn Effect states, in layman’s terms, that a person’s IQ score increased over time. This effect has been noted in the United States and similar countries and it is believed that the average rate of 0.3 IQ points per year. Not only is the Flynn Effect fascinating, but it also exemplifies the failings of using IQ tests when deciding who is eligible for the death penalty. Because of the Flynn Effect, a person could be considered mentally unfit for execution and then years later become fit for execution. Also, to be able to accurately measure current IQ scores against past scores, a reduction of 0.3 points per year between tests is required. The Atkins decision gives states discretion in how they define intellectual disability as a matter of law. Most states use IQ-based definitions, but do not adjust for the Flynn Effect. The inconsistent definitions and thresholds to determine intellectual disability are cause for concern when talking about the decision to execute someone or to sentence them to life in prison.

According to Dr. Martell, Payne’s functional IQ, taking the Flynn Effect into account, is 68.4, well under the standard of 75 points as a determination of mental fitness. Dr. Reschly, an expert in Intellectual Disability, also evaluated Payne and reported a full-scale IQ of 74, before adjustment for the Flynn Effect. This score puts Payne into the intellectually disabled category according to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. According to documents and testimony from his family members, Payne had a long history of developmental delays. In school, he was known to teachers and fellow classmates as “slow” and he was unable to graduate high school and failed the Tennessee Proficiency Exam five times before dropping out. For reference, an average 9th-grade student would pass this exam on the first try, Payne took the exam every year starting in 9th grade for five years. When Payne was in the 9th grade, he was unable to complete writing assignments and his teachers had stopped grading him based on his ability to reach the required level of comprehension based on his grade and instead graded him for his effort in class. According to one teacher, Martha Faye, “Pervis was slow and had low comprehension...He didn’t read well enough to understand the material on his own, and even when the material was explained to him, he had to be told over and over what to do. He couldn’t retain instructions or information from one day to the next”.

Family members also noticed Payne’s deficits. Rolanda, Payne’s younger sister by 7 years, claims that Payne couldn’t help her with her homework as a kid. His family was aware of his inability to comprehend anything more complicated than simple, short instructions and his mother did not allow him to iron or wash clothing because he could never complete a task without destroying something. Despite this, his parents never demanded that he do better in school and accepted his limitations. In his teen years, Payne worked at Pizza Hut and his supervisor described him as “mentally challenged”. He always had to refer to instruction sheets that were posted at all work stations long after he had finished training and had been working there for a while.

When Payne went to work for his father, Carl Payne, the patriarch understood that instructions had to be repeated several times to make sure that Payne understood them. He was unable to follow instructions with too many steps. Carl Payne reports that as a child Payne was delayed in learning to walk and talk. He could not feed himself until he was 5 years old and he was also plagued by a stutter until early adulthood. His mother believed that Payne’s difficulties were because he was born prematurely. After dropping out of high school, Payne still could not count money, add up the cost of items, use a tape measure, read aloud, or identify street names and follow maps.

Payne’s attorneys also allege that there is a strong chance that Payne did not commit the crimes. The document by Henry and Harwell includes Payne’s version of events. He claims that he was going up to his girlfriend’s apartment and heard a noise come from Charisse’s unit. He went inside to help whoever was crying out and was so overwhelmed by the gruesome scene that he panicked and fled the apartment. These actions would be more aligned with Payne’s history of mental deficiency, his reported lack of violence and drug use, and his reputation as a kind and gentle person. The motive for the crime as put forth by the prosecution was Payne’s desire to sexually assault Christopher, a woman whom he did not know.

The story about Payne using cocaine and drinking beer before the murders is also unsubstantiated. Payne was not drug tested when he was apprehended, despite his mother’s request that he be tested. The defense also alleges that the tampon was recovered two days after the murders and does not appear in any of the crime scene photographs. Payne’s injuries, mainly the scratches, were not consistent with a violent struggle and the blood on his clothing matched his description of events.

The acid phosphatase also could not be linked definitively to Payne. According to the defense, the original prosecution did not present testimony from Darryl Shanks, Charisse’s boyfriends at the time. Shanks told investigators that he and Charisse had consensual sex just hours before her murder. After the trial during a post-conviction hearing, Shanks recanted his affidavit. Payne’s counsel claims that they were never made aware of Shanks’ interview or this potentially critical evidence. As a side note, this seems like a Brady violation to me. For those who may not know a Brady Violation occurs when a piece of evidence that could be exculpatory is willfully or negligently hidden from the defense by the prosecution. This affidavit from Shanks would have cast substantial doubt on the prosecution theory of motive, which could have swayed the jury’s decision.

One of the more egregious pieces of possible prosecutorial misconduct is the alleged suppression of blood and semen evidence. Henry and Harwell discovered residue evidence that had not been introduced at Payne’s first trial. They attempted to obtain this evidence but the Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk’s staff refused to give it to them without a court order. According to Henry and Harwell, they had never been outright denied evidence while working on a case before. An Emergency Motion to be Permitted to View Evidence was granted on December 20th, 2019 and that day Payne’s counsel examined the evidence in Memphis, TN. Among the pieces of evidence was a comforter with bloodstains, bloody sheets, and one bloody pillow. These pieces of evidence are in contrast to the prosecution’s assertion that the kitchen of Christopher’s apartment was the only area considered a crime scene. The victim’s tampon was also kept as evidence and may have traces of sperm that could be tested for DNA. According to Tennessee Code 40-30-304(2), If evidence is still in existence and in good enough condition to be tested, the court shall order DNA analysis. In 2006, Payne had filed a Petition for Post-Conviction DNA analysis, which was denied.

Now that we’ve gone over the contrasting evidence and the mitigating factors laid out by the defense, let’s talk about alternative suspects. At the time of her death, Charisse Christopher was divorced from her husband, Kenneth Christopher. It is well documented that Mr. Christopher was physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive toward Charisse during their marriage. Charisse eventually fled the couple’s home and moved to her hometown of Millington where she filed for divorce. In the divorce complaint, Charisse cited cruel and inhumane treatment, abandonment, and neglect as grounds for the divorce. Mr. Christopher had a long and violent criminal history predating the marriage and continuing on after it had ended. Mr. Christopher had no less than 9 DUI charges and he had been escorted by police from his mother’s home due to his drunkenness after she called for help.

At first, investigators ruled Mr. Christopher out because he was serving the last year of the five year prison sentence for aggravated assault. He was housed at the Fort Pillow State Penitentiary, which was renamed the Cold Creek Correctional Facility in Lauderdale County, TN. However, Mr. Christopher was allowed to leave the premises on weekends if they were considered minimum security. Mr. Christopher could have left the prison on the morning of the murder, which was a Saturday, committed the crime, and return to the prison without repercussion or much notice. According to the filing, Mr. Christopher was aware that Charisse was in a new relationship and knew where she lived.

Pervis Payne also maintains that a man was already inside of Charisse Christopher’s apartment before he entered. He described the man as a black guy with a long white or beige tropical shirt that was covered in blood. He said that he observed the man jump from the landing on the second floor to the steps before running past Payne. Payne claims that the unknown man dropped coins and items while fleeing and that he picked them up and put them in his pocket, hence the drug paraphernalia later found on him. He told officers about this man in the tropical shirt while being transported to police headquarters. A neighbor, John Edward Williams, came forward in 1992 and said that he had seen Payne walking to the apartment building as another African American man rushed out of the building, got in a car, and drove away. Minutes later, Williams saw Payne running from the upstairs unit. According to Williams, the same black man he had seen run past Payne had been to Christopher’s apartment several times before and had observed Christopher and the man arguing.

Williams and a man named Leroy Jones gave affidavits which included their knowledge of Charisse Christopher’s use of illegal drugs. Now, this information is absolutely not to diminish the extreme tragedy of Charisse and Laci’s deaths or to paint Charisse in a negative light. It is being mentioned to create a clearer picture of the situation and one of the possible theories presented by the defense. Jones was involved in drug trafficking in the area and knew that his brother, Charles Jones, had enlisted Christopher to sell drugs for him. According to Leroy Jones, Charles Jones had told an associate name William Hall to “take care of the Christopher woman”. This conversation took place one week before the murders. Williams, Jones, and Kenneth Christopher all admitted to having used drugs with Charisse Christopher in the past, specifically amphetamines. Methamphetamine and amphetamine were present in Christopher’s blood at the time of her death according to the toxicology report. The theory alluded to in Payne’s defense filing is that Charisse Christopher was murdered by William Hall on the orders of Charles Jones to silence her or enact some form of revenge.

Henry and Harwell site five similar cases in which defendants were wrongfully convicted of murder after stumbling upon the crime scene. Those defendants, Chad Heins and Clemente Aguirre of Florida, John Nolley and Darryl Adams of Texas, and David Ayers of Ohio, have been exonerated. We don’t have time to discuss this extremely heavy topic on this episode but I want to note that the response by Henry and Harwell also includes a section entitled, The Death Penalty is Racist which details how capital punishment had been used to systematically oppress African Americans in Tennessee for centuries. The section begins on page 64 and I have included the link to the entire response in case anyone wants to read it.

Despite this, in my opinion, extremely well-crafted response in opposition to the motion to set an execution date, the state of Tennessee’s motion to set the date was granted on February 24th, 2020. Currently, there are no attempts to save Pervis Tyrone Payne’s life in motion. This case has evolved so much since Payne’s initial trial in 1988 and the work of Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell has completely changed my view of this situation. I’m sure many of you, like me, heard the initial version of events and thought “well it sounds pretty obvious that he did it”. When I was researching this case I thought that this episode was going to be about the issue of executing a likely intellectually disabled, but 100% guilty person because of a flawed measurement of mental functioning. But this case is about those measurements AND about the impending execution of a man who I, personally, could not in good conscience say is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The accounts from Payne’s teachers, classmates, and family members support the conclusion that his intellectual functioning is impaired, which would render his sentence of death unconstitutional under the Atkins ruling. Payne was always a nonviolent, caring, and person as his girlfriend and family members testified to. People with intellectual disabilities do not randomly attack a mother and two small children in this manner. The crime was extremely brutal and I have a hard time believing that Payne simply decided to sexually assault and then murder a woman he did not know while waiting for his girlfriend to come home.

Murderers most often have a criminal history of violence before they commit a homicide. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, around 70% of people convicted of murder have previous arrests and/or convictions. Payne did not have any criminal history whatsoever, nor did he have a history of violence. Furthermore, people with intellectual disabilities, like Payne, are much more likely to be victims of violence than to be perpetrators. According to a study conducted by Lovell and Skellern, people with mental disabilities in a clinical setting tend to react violently when they are confronted with communication difficulties, frustration, and emotional distress.

Many patients who acted out had a history of impulsive and unpredictable behavior. Generally, violent reactions were more strongly associated with disorders including ADHD, Dementia, and Bipolar disorder. People with mild intellectual disability were found to be more deliberate in their verbal and physical assaults, whereas people with moderate or severe intellectual disability were likely to lash out indiscriminately due to circumstantial stressors. Because of Payne’s specific intellectual disability and his lack of a criminal record, the likelihood of him being the murderer is statistically slim, but not impossible. It would be extremely unusual for the type of crime perpetrated against the Christopher family to be the offender’s first crime.

The extent of violence inflicted on Charisse Christopher in particular is characteristic of an offender acting out of anger, retaliation, or passion. Payne had no discernible connection to Christopher that would elicit these feelings. The prosecution alleged that Payne made sexual advances toward Christopher and became violent when he was rebuked. But Payne had no history of sexual aggression or assault and he was waiting for his girlfriend to get home. It wouldn’t make sense that he would attack a random woman and her children instead of stifling his sexual desires until he was with his girlfriend.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up a fairly touchy aspect of this case. Charisse Christopher and her children were white. Pervis Payne is black. As we discussed earlier in this episode, there is a documented history of African Americans being disproportionately sentenced to death for killing white people. It is also likely that the investigators for this case were majority white. In 2019, Nicholas Christopher, now 35-year-old, gave an interview to the british tabloid, the Sun. Nicholas recounts the events of his mother and sister’s murders with surprising detail. He claims that he did not see the face of his mother’s attacker, but his aunt Angie later said that Nicholas saw a picture of Payne on the news after he had recovered and he told her “That’s the man who killed my mom”.

While this seems like compelling evidence, and this analysis is not intended to diminish Nicholas Christopher’s experience or loss, there are well researched reasons why Nicholas could have easily misidentified Payne. Cross-Race bias, something that will come into play in future episodes, is a huge issue with Witness Identification. Cross-Racial bias is the reduced ability to differentiate people of races other than one’s own. In criminal cases, this can lead to misidentification if the defendant is a different race than the witness. Studies have shown that babies as young as 6 months old demonstrate a level of cross-racial bias. Nicholas may have seen Pervis Payne and identified him simply because he was black and wasn’t drastically different to the real killer. It should also be noted that Nicholas was only 3 years old. There is a good reason why children that young do not usually testify in criminal trials. Children that young are extremely open to outside influence, they lie, they can be re-traumatized by the experience, and they don’t have reliable memories. On top of all of that, Nicholas was an extremely traumatized child, who wouldn’t be after experiencing what he did? Trauma can cloud a person’s perception and their ability to code memories accurately. So while Nicholas’ interview is interesting, I would be hard pressed to weigh it against other more forensically solid aspects of this case.

I think that the assertions made at trial by the prosecution that Payne had been doing drugs and drinking all day should not have been admitted without proof that drugs were in his body when he was arrested. Without proof, a claim like this is mere speculation. The failure to test the items from Christopher’s bedroom is another failing that I have trouble looking past. With modern forensic science at our disposal, I think there’s no excuse for not testing potentially critical evidence. The worst thing that can happen, from the prosecution’s standpoint, is that the DNA does not match Payne. Even in that scenario, wouldn’t you rather admit that your theory was wrong than be a party to the execution of an innocent man? It is in the interest of truth and justice for Charisse, Laci, and Nicholas Christopher to investigate every shred of evidence. If DNA proves that someone else was in Charisse Christopher’s apartment in the moments before her death, then Pervis Payne deserves another trial.

A 2014 study conducted by Samuel Gross, Barbara O’Brien, Chen Hu, and Edward H. Kennedy concluded that at least 4.1% of people on death row at any given time are likely innocent and/or would be exonerated. According to th Death Penalty Information Database, there are 18 likely innocent people who have been executed since 1976, that we know of. The most recent addition to that list was made after the execution of Larry Swearingen on August 21st, 2019. As of now, Pervis Payne will join the ranks of executed but possibly innocent people on December 3rd, 2020. Despite the solid information pertaining to Payne’s intellectual disability, baseless assertions by prosecutors, the lack of forensic evidence against him, his enduring proclamation of innocence, alternative suspects, and the sheer lack of violent tendency or motive, the state of Tennessee does not seem to care that they may be executing an innocent, intellectually disabled man. But this isn’t a rare occurrence. It’s merely a story line that has played out in America for centuries, and even with all of our new technology and investigative strategies, it keeps replaying. Why? Because we let it.

If you feel that Pervis Payne’s execution should be stopped, please call the office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee at (615) 741-2001, you could tweet to him, his twitter username is @GovBillLee, or you can email him through the Tennessee Government website https://www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us.html.

#death penalty #true crime #murder #forensic psychology #crime #podcast #true crime podcast #pervis payne #pervis tyrone payne #the innocence project #capital punishment #charisse christopher

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black-paraphernalia · 2 years

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From Emmett Till to Pervis Payne — Black Men in America Are Still Killed for Crimes They Didn’t Commit By Daniele Selby of the Innocence Project

Emmett Till, a young Black boy in Mississippi, turned 14 on July 25, 1955. Almost exactly one month later, he was brutally murdered after being accused of sexually harassing Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, in a grocery store.

Till would have turned 79 today had he not been killed. The two white men accused of his murder were later found “not guilty” by an all-white, all-male jury. Four months after the trial, which took place in a segregated courtroom, the two men admitted to kidnapping and murdering Till in an interview with Look magazine. Because they had already been acquitted, they could not be tried again. Neither ever served time for Till’s death.

Six decades later, Bryant admitted that she had lied and that the parts of her accusation considered most incendiary at the time — that Till had grabbed her and made verbal and physical advances on her — were untrue. Bryant has never faced any legal consequences for her accusations against Till. The FBI opened a reinvestigation into his murder three years ago.

These are the same kind of racist stereotypes that the prosecution in Pervis Payne’s case evoked at trial to convict him of murder. Payne, who has an intellectual disability, has spent 32 years facing execution in Tennessee for a crime he has always said he did not commit — and DNA testing of evidence in his case could help prove this. The Innocence Project jointly filed a petition for DNA testing on July 22.

Payne was convicted for the 1987 murder of Charisse Christopher and her child in Millington, Tennessee. The prosecution argued that Payne had been searching for sex after using drugs and looking at a Playboy magazine, and that he attacked Christopher after he made an advance on her and she rejected him. But no evidence supports this theory.

But the prosecution painted a very different picture, making Payne out to be a violent and hypersexual drug user. And, at trial, the prosecutor repeatedly pointed out the victim’s “white skin” when referring to parts of her body, a poignant reminder of her whiteness in a county ranked among the 25 counties with the most recorded lynching's between 1877 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.

In the late 1800s, claims that Black men had raped or made sexual advances on white women were frequently cited to justify their lynchings. Historians say that in reality many rape accusation claims were false and were often used as cover for consensual relationships that were, at the time, extremely taboo.

And racist beliefs were so deep-seated among white communities, that “Whites could not countenance the idea of a white woman desiring sex with a [Black person], thus any physical relationship between a white woman and a [B]lack man had, by definition, to be an unwanted assault,” writes historian Philip Dray.

The perception of Black men as a danger to white women in particular, contributing to false accusations like the ones lobbied against Till and the Scottsboro Boys, is deeply rooted in this history and the legacy of slavery. In Louisiana, for instance, rape was only considered a crime when the victim was a white woman, according to the American Bar Association, and capital punishment was a mandatory punishment for rape and attempted rape only when the alleged attacker was a slave (and Black).

In Alabama, the court allowed juries to consider a defendant’s race and to rely on social stereotypes about that race — like the prevalent belief at the time that Black men are prone to raping women — to infer the defendant’s intent to commit a crime.

Today, Black men are twice as likely to be arrested for a sex offense and three times more likely to be accused of rape than white men, the Appeal reported. That’s not because they are committing such crimes at higher rates than people of other races or ethnicities, but because they are more often suspected and accused of such crimes due to racial biases. EXCEPT TAKEN FROM The Innocence Project

*WHITE LIES AND BLACK LYNCHINGS*

Though the exponential increase in lynching did not truly begin until the late 1880s, the upward trend had already begun a decade earlier. Casual articles with headlines like A Rascal Lynched' were fairly common in the newspapers of the 1870s; already, much of the Southern public was blinded with fear and rage at the idea of a black man with a white woman.

A lynching was most likely to occur in cases where a black man had been convicted of ;outraging' (raping) a white woman, though a lack of conviction did not mean whites presupposed an accused negro's innocence. In Cairo, Mississippi, for example, a black man arrested for attempted rape of a white girl was taken from the jailhouse; by a number of citizens and hanged.

Threats of extralegal executions for black men were accepted as almost normal when a white woman's integrity and supposed virginity were at stake; many newspaper accounts failed to even mention the suspect's name.

By the last decade of the nineteenth century, lynching had become the ultimate public expression of white male dominance, complete with cameras, newspaper announcements, and special excursion trains chartered for urban whites to view the ritual and extended torture of African-American men and even women in rural areas. EXCERPT TAKEN FROM: Lynching to Protect White Women from

Rise And Fall of the Slave South, University of Virginia

*WHITE LIES AND BLACK LYNCHINGS IS PART OF THE SERIES * PURE EVIL

*in future post to come more in-depth information and stories on the pure evil of lynching and the injustice of the unjust legal system for blacks*

Black Paraphernalia disclaimer - images from Goggle Image

#Black Paraphernalia #pure evil #lynching in america #emitt till #same story different day no change #this is america #ahmaud arbery

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taetaespeaches · 3 years

Note

why would we want to help payne by signing petitions when he murdered 2 toddlers and their mother, these people deserve to die and they’re lucky they get to go peacefully as their victims didn’t

Pervis Payne has declared his innocence for 30+ years in a case where crucial dna testing was never done. A human being does not deserve to be murdered on death row for a crime they did not commit. And I don’t support the death penalty in general so I’m the wrong person to bring this shit to. What people want is for the dna testing to be completed before ending a man’s life who may be innocent.

I myself am not claiming Payne is innocent or guilty, I’m supporting the stance that a proper investigation should be completed before allowing the fucking government to kill a man.

The murder of Charisse Christopher and her two-year-old daughter is horrid.

It’s just a man shouldn’t be killed if he didn’t commit the crime. The dna testing might show evidence that further proves that he did commit the murders, but it could also show that he didn’t. That’s the issue.

#anon #asks #idk how else to explain to explain this to you #and in an unfair justice system that consistently targets black people- this is a fucking issue #and just to clarify- the murders were awful. but it was a 2-year-old not two toddlers. a second child suffered injuries but he did not die #just so we have our facts straight

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malsrp · 4 years

Text

#1. Aaron Roeder — Terry Chen — tag: aroeder 2. Aida Wilks — Julia Garner — tag: awilks 3. Alexander Lightwood — Matt Daddario — tag: alightwood 4. Alexandria Gillham — Gemma Arterton — tag: agilham 5. Alia Maxwell — Vanessa Morgan — tag: amaxwell 6. Alisia Carabajal — Bridget Regan — tag: acarabajal 7. Alissa Kytönen — Nicola Peltz — tag: akytonen 8. Alyx Humphries — Joe Brooks — tag: ahumphries 9. Amadej Moralis — Matthew Daddario — tag: amoralis 10. Amanda H. Nørgaard — Selena Gomez — tag: anorgaard 11. Amelie Robin — Felicity Jones — tag: arobin 12. Angel Devaris — Neels Visser — tag: adevaris 13. Anna B. Mathiasen — Anna B. Mathiasen — tag: amathiasen 14. Anthony Higgins [ Race ] — Christian Navarro — tag: ahiggins 15. Antoine Neuhaus — Avan Jogia — tag: aneuhaus 16. Apolline Tachel — Taylor Swift — tag: atachel 17. April Olson — Amber Heard — tag: aolson 18. Archie Andrews — KJ Apa — tag: aandrews 19. Arlan Havernathy — Vasiliy Makarov — tag: vmakarov 20. Árni Sveinsson — Bruno Mars — tag: ásveinsson 21. Arron Castillo — Dylan Sprayberry — tag: acastillo 22. Asmarina Tesmi — Letitia Wright — tag: atesmi 23. Aurora Moon — Emma Stone — tag: amoon 24. Austin Valero — Danny Schwarz — tag: avalero 25. Ava Hunter — Danielle Campbell — tag: ahunter 26. Bastiaan Morgan — Jacob Young — tag: bmorgan 27. Beau Amarante — Douglas Booth — tag: bamarante 28. Bellamy Blake — Bob Morley — tag: bblake 29. Bentley French — Keegan Allen — tag: bfrench 30. Blair McKenzie/McKenna — Joe Brooks/Matt Bomer — tag: bmckenzie; bmckenna 31. Blake Anderson — Nick Robinson — tag: banderson 32. Bobbi Downes — Cole Sprouse — tag: bdownes 33. Bonilla Serrato — Hunter Schafer — tag: bserrato 34. Breana Logston — Hayley Lu Richards — tag: blogson 35. Broderick Boyer — Trevor Noah — tag: bboyer 36. Brooke Nicholas — Scarlett Johansson — tag: bnicholas 37. Buddy Wiltsie — Freddie Stroma — tag: bwiltsie 38. Caleb Whitton — Vasiliy Makarov — tag: cwhitton 39. Caley Greene — Margot Robbie — tag: cgreene 40. Casey Finch — Ashton Irwin — tag: cfinch 41. Caty White — Madelaine Petsch — tag: cwhite 42. Celeste Goodman — Virginia Gardner — tag: cgoodman 43. Célia Méndes — Marina Moschen — tag: cméndes 44. Cerin Ó'Caoimh — Spencer MacPherson — tag: cócaoimh 45. Charisse Walther — Odeya Rush — tag: cwalther 46. Chelsea Tassinari — Brittany Snow — tag: ctassinari 47. Cheryl Blossom — Madelaine Petsch — tag: cblossom 48. Christopher Candler — Rey Valentin — tag: ccandler 49. Ciel Phantomhive — Jakub Gierszal — tag: cphantomhive 50. Ciera Folger — Zendaya — tag: cfolger 51. Clarissa Fairchild — Katherine McNamara — tag: cfairchild 52. Clarke Griffin — Eliza Taylor — tag: cgriffin 53. Claude Donovan — Matt Cohen — tag: cdonovan 54. Cleopatra Mercia — Danielle Campbell — tag: cmercia 55. Cody Chester — Austin Mahone — tag: cchester 56. Connor Dreyer — Ryan Lochte — tag: cdreyer 57. Conrad Benham — Theo James — tag: cbenham 58. Corey Hamilton — Gregg Sulkin — tag: chamilton 59. Curt Wagoner — Ellar Coltrane — tag: cwagoner 60. Dallas Ference — Richard Madden — tag: dference 61. Dalton Fuller — Ed Westwick — tag: dfuller 62. Dana Bela — Griffin Powell-Arcand — tag: dbela 63. Deane Trager — Hayden Thompson — tag: dtrager 64. Deanna Scofield — Madison Beer — tag: dscofield 65. Demi-leigh Maclean — Victoria Justice — tag: dmaclean 66. Destin Rumancek — Penn Badgeley — tag: drumancek 67. Diamond Turk — Tristan Lake Leabu — tag: dturl 68. Diana Lanham — Gina Carano — tag: dlanham 69. Dmitry Alkaev — Andrew Boldar — tag: dalkaev 70. Dominik Aaron — Felix Mallard — tag: daaron 71. Dorothea Lightwood-Bane — India Eisley — tag: dlightwoodbane 72. Dorothy Baum — Kaniehtiio Horn — tag: dbaum 73. Doyle Barish — Ty Simpkins — tag: dbarish 74. Dwight Apolinar — King Bach — tag: dapolinar 75. Dyana Roy — Lyrica Okano — tag: droy 76. Edelira Réyes — Ana De Armas — tag: eréyes 77. Eden Farley — Diane Vulpine — tag: efarley 78. Eleanor Blackburn — Rachel-Marie Jones — tag: eblackburn 79. Elden Pointer — Harrison Gilbertson — tag: epointer 80. Eliot Waugh — Hale Appleman — tag: ewaugh 81. Émelié Overgard — Georgia Henley — tag: eovergaard 82. Emilio Youngberg — Brendon Thwaites — tag: eyoungberg 83. Emily Robin — Thomasin McKenzie — tag: erobin 84. Erin Madden — Anna Kendricks — tag: emadden 85. Essi Hanski — Lachlan Watson — tag: ehanski 86. Eva Coleman — Holliday Grainger — tag: ecoleman 87. Eva Rosales — Aimee Carrero — tag: erosales 88. Evangelina Stigall — Anya Chalotra — tag: estigali 89. Evie Trippe — Morgan Lily — tag: etrippe 90. Ezequiel Hanby — Ryan Guzman — tag: ehanby 91. Faye Thompson — Katherine Langford — tag: fthompson 92. Felix Tenner — Timothée Chalamet — tag: ftenner 93. Finn Jagger — Sam Riley — tag: fjagger 94. Forrest Nilges — Lucas Zumann — tag: fnilges 95. Gabriela Méndes — Camila Queiroz — tag: gméndes 96. Genevive Janowski — Hailee Steinfield — tag: gjanowski 97. Georgette Fresne — Ciara Bravo — tag: gfresne 98. Georgianne Rentfro — Dalilah Bela — tag: grentfro 99. Gino Warkentin — Andrew Garfield — tag: gwarkentin 100. Grace Quinn — Lucy Hale — tag: gquinn 101. Hailee Lewis — Chloe Norgaard — tag: hlewis 102. Harley Quinn — Margot Robbie — tag: hquinn 103. Harper Finch — George Shelley — tag: hfinch 104. Harry Hook — Thomas Doherty — tag: hhook 105. Hayley Marshall-Kenner — Phoebe Tonkin — tag: hmarshallkenner 106. Hazel Arden — Katheryn Winnick — tag: harden 107. Hunter Harris — Mikkel Jensen — tag: hhunter 108. Imelda Navarro — Alex Steele — tag: inavarro 109. Isis Monohan — Emily Rudd — tag: imonohan 110. Israel Preston — Landon Liboiron — tag: ipreston 111. Ivy Romano — Ariana Grande — tag: iromano 112. Jacqui Valo — Natalie Dormer — tag: jvalo 113. James Carstairs — Choi Jun-Hong — tag: jcarstairs 114. Jamie Kostelnik — Camren Bicondova — tag: jkostelnik 115. Jared Rubio — Sebastian Stan — tag: jrubio 116. Jaskier Pankratz — Joey Batey — tag: jpankratz 117. Jason Kleinman — Chris Pine — tag:jkleinman 118. JC Garner — Jonny Weston — tag: jcgarner 119. Jed Achorn — Hayden Christensen — tag: jachorn 120. Jellybean Jones — India Eisley — tag: jbjones 121. Jenna Ormond — Carlson Young — tag: jormond 122. Jeremy Lindsay — Cameron Palatas — tag: jlindsay 123. Jericho Lefévre — Stephen James Hendry — tag: jlefévre 124. Jimmie Souen — Conner Dennis — tag: jsouen 125. Joaquin Desantos — Rob Raco — tag: jdesantos 126. Joaquin Nero — Jamie Campbell-Bower — tag: jnero 127. Johanna Söderström — Anya Chalotra — tag: jsoderstrom 128. Jonathon Pruette — James Marsden — tag: jpruette 129. Jordan Burton — Devon Aoki — tag: jburton 130. Joshua Hope — Vasiliy Makarov — tag: joshhope 131. Jude Byrom — Ezra Miller — tag: jbyrom 132. Jude Godfrey — Sterling Knight — tag: judegodfrey 133. Jughead Jones — Cole Sprouse — tag: jugheadjones 134. Julie R. Mogensen — Bailee Madison — tag: jmogenson 135. Julio Guarnieri — Gael Garcia Bernal — tag: jguarnieri 136. Julius Satchell — Chris Pine — tag: jsatchell 137. Juliyn Godfrey — Austin Butler — tag: juliyngodfrey 138. Justine Schoolcraft — Melissa Benoist — tag: mbenoist 139. Kade Westfield — Cole Sprouse — tag: kadewestfield 140. Kailyn Howard — Ash Stymest — tag:khoward 141. Kameron Grainger — James Reid — tag:kgrainger 142. Kammy Milkovich — Rasmus Ledin — tag: kmilkovich 143. Kareem Mauriello — Graham Philips — tag: kmauriello 144. Karisa Sandström — Bridget Satterlee — tag: ksandstrom 145. Karleen Widell — Nathalie Emmanuel — tag: kwidell 146. Kaylah Robles — Kirsty Mooney — tag: krobles 147. Kendrick Slabaugh — Brenton Thwaites — tag: kslabaugh 148. Kenzi Malikov — Ksenia Solo — tag: kmalikov 149. Kian Westfield — Cole Sprouse — tag: kianwestfield 150. Killian Jones — Colin O’Donaghue — tag: kjones 151. Kira Connor — Katherine McNamara — tag: kconnor 152. Kiran Wilson — Paris Brosnan — tag: kwilson 153. Kirk Rich — Zac Efron — tag: krich 154. Kis Szabolcs — Alicia Vikander — tag: kszabolcs 155. Kisanet Isaias — Rihanna — tag: kisaias 156. Kitty Sullivan — Tina Guo — tag: ksullivan 157. Klaus Hargreeves — Robert Sheehan — tag: khargreeves 158. Krista Albertsdóttir — Naomi Scott — tag: kalbertsdóttir 159. Kristyn Dilley — Cara Delevigne — tag: kdilley 160. Koda Westfield — Cole Sprouse — tag: kodawestfield 161. Lacey Tauber — Adrianne Palicki — tag: ltauber 162. Lauranne Leemburg — Daisy Ridley — tag: lleemburg 163. Laurence Lachord — Toby Nichols — tag: llachord 164. Leah Holt — Crystal Reed — tag: lholt 165. Lennox Hamilton — Chay Suede — tag: lhamilton 166. Lenore Francoeur — Dascha Polanco — tag: lfrancouer 167. Leon Ó'Caoimh — Chris Collins — tag: lócaoimh 168. Lesli Mclaurin — Demi Lovato — tag: lmclaurin 169. Lexa Kom Trikru — Alycia Debnam-Carey — tag: lkomtrikru 170. Liam Dunbar — Dylan Sprayberry — tag: ldunbar 171. Liberato Pisani — Tanner Buchanan — tag: lpisani 172. Lita Balsley — Veronika Bonell — tag: lbalsley 173. Livia Hullett — Esme Creed-Miles — tag: lhullett 174. Lizbeth Burton — Maya Hawke — tag: lburton 175. Lola Porter — Rachel Hilbert — tag: lporter 176. Lorie Garnett — Elle Fanning — tag: lgarnett 177. Lucas Abbott — Drew Acker — tag: labbott 178. Mackenzie Greyr — Jaira Burns — tag: mgreyr 179. Madelaine Thomas — Dove Cameron — tag: mthomas 180. Majestas Upriti — Natalie Dormer — tag: mupriti 181. Makkai Barnabás — Judah Lewis — tag: mbarnabás 182. Mal — Dove Cameron — tag: mal 183. Marina Alves — Zendaya — tag: malves 184. Mark Blackthorn — Jamie Campbell-Bower — tag: mblackthorn 185. Mark Westlock — Luke Bilyk — tag: mwestlock 186. Matteusz Villegas — Samuel Larsen — tag: mvillegas 187. Matthias Brewer — Henry Cavill — tag: mbrewer 188. Maxxie Oliver — Mitch Hewer — tag: moliver 189. Melanie Widing — Kate Beckinsale — tag: mwiding 190. Mercedes Abbott — Lyndsy Fonseca — mabbott 191. Merida Dunbroch — Felicia Day — tag: mdunbroch 192. Mia Alloway — Taylor Momsen — tag: malloway 193. Micah Martin — Tom Holland — tag: micahmartin 194. Mickey Milkovich — Noel Fisher — tag: mmilkovich 195. Mihai Fenrirson — Asa Butterfield — tag: mfenrirson 196. Milosz Sheehan — Ilja Van Vuuren — tag: msheehan 197. Mira Martin — Amanda Seyfried — tag: miramartin 198. Monty Green — Christopher Larkin — tag: mgreen 199. Morgana Pendragon — Katie McGrath — tag: mpendragon 200. Morgyn Kennedy — Bill Skarsgard — tag: mkennedy 201. Murdock — Sharlto Copley — tag: murdock 202. Murphy McManus — Norman Reedus — tag: mmcmanus 203. Nadia Lowe — Tiera Skovbye — tag: nlowe 204. Neal Caffrey — Matt Bomer — tag: ncaffrey 205. Neil Crowley — Emile Hirsch — tag: ncrowley 206. Nelle Leng — Chloe Bennet — tag: nleng 207. Nicholas West — Max Lloyd-Jones — tag: nwest 208. Nikki Howe — Dylan Sprayberry — tag: nhowe 209. Niko King — Rob Raco — tag: nking 210. Nine/Nina — Kiernan Shipka — tag:nnine 211. Noah Lamont — Marlon Teixiera — tag: nlamont 212. Nola Delpozo — Anya Taylor-Joy — tag: ndelpozo 213. Octavia Blake — Marie Avgeropoulos — tag: oblake 214. Olivia Octavian — Elizabeth Gillies — tag: ooctavian 215. Olympia Green — Lana Condor — tag: ogreen 216. Orion Kirk — Dominic Sherwood — tag: okirk 217. Oscar Ellinger — Penn Badgley — tag: oellinger 218. Otto Feehan — Nat Wolff — tag: ofeehan 219. Paige Kerler — Abbie Cornish — tag: pkerler 220. Paris Dupont — Lucky Blue Smith — tag: pdupont 221. Patrick S. Knudsen — Joe Keery — tag: pknudsen 222. Paul Mann — Henry Cavill — tag: pmann 223. Peter Rumancek — Landon Liboiron — tag: prumancek 224. Phoenix Monsoon — Edu Beber — tag: pmonsoon 225. Poppy Martin — Danielle Campbell — tag: pmartin 226. Presley Lowe — Zoey Deutch — tag: plowe 227. Quentin Coldwater — Jason Ralph — tag: qcoldwater 228. Quinn Simons — Emilija Baranac — tag: qsimons 229. Rebecca Conway — Rihanna — tag: rconway 230. Reino Kantee — Rami Malek — tag: rkantee 231. Remi O'Reilly — Dylan Sprouse — tag: roreilly 232. Renée Gorski — Jenna Dewan — tag: rgorski 233. Reo Calhoun — Alexander Koch — tag: rcalhoun 234. Rhys Gray — David Henrie — tag: rgray 235. Riian Floyd — Andy Biersack — tag: rfloyd 236. Riley Bowman — Blake Lively — tag: rbowman 237. Robin Buckley — Maya Hawke — tag: rbuckley 238. Romain Plourde — Hudson Thames — tag: rplourde 239. Rory Gearheart — Hudson Thames — tag: rgearheart 240. Rosa Hurley — Kimberry Behets — tag: rhurley 241. Rosemary Daniele — Thaliá — tag: rdaniele 242. Rosia Obryan — Scarlett Sperduto — tag: robryan 243. Ruby — Katie Cassidy — tag: ruby 244. Rupert Fulgham — Jeremy Irvine — tag: rfulgham 245. Sabrina Spellman — Kiernan Shipka — tag: sspellman 246. Sammie Brandes — Taron Egerton — tag: sbrandes 247. Samuel Silver — Thomas Doherty — tag: ssilver 248. Sara Narjus — London Vale — tag: snarjus 249. Sascha Trent — Rasmus Ledin — tag: strent 250. Scarlet Patton — Alexandra Daddario — tag: spatton 251. Seren Haines — Cody Longo — tag: shaines 252. Shane Holden — Julian Schratter — tag: sholden 253. Shayne Fox — Alex Watson — tag: sfox 254. Simon Lewis — Alberto Rosende — tag: slewis 255. Skylar Mattiachi — Jelle Haen — tag: smattiachi 256. Sophia Tulloch — Alina Kovalenko — tag: stulloch 257. Sophie Lassiter — Abigail Cowen — tag: slassiter 258. Sophie Windsor — Elizabeth Gillies — tag: swindsor 259. Spencer Henderson — Tyler Blackburn — tag: shenderson 260. Stiles Stilinski — Dylan O’Brien — tag: sstilinski 261. Susanna Sandström — Bridget Satterlee — tag: ssandstrom 262. Suzume Ahumada — Constance Wu — tag: sahumada 263. Szymon Trujillo — Devon Bostick — tag: strujillo 264. Tabitha Mersey — Miranda Kerr — tag: tmersey 265. Talia Sholes — Lara Robinson — tag: tsholes 266. Taylor Beauford — Asa Butterfield — tag: tbeauford 267. Tess Friedkin — Jessica Lowndes — tag: tfriedkin 268. Thomas Escamilla — Nathan Saignes — tag: tescamilla 269. Tiberius Blackthorn — Asa Butterfield — tag: tblackthorn 270. Tinkerbell — Dove Cameron — tag: tinkerbell 271. TJ Hammond — Sebastian Stan — tag: tjhammond 272. Toby Kao — Selena Gomez — tag: tkao 273. Toni Topaz — Vanessa Morgan — tag: ttopaz 274. Trista Dutra — Corbin Reid — tag: tdutra 275. Valentin Sainz — Richard Madden — tag: vsainz 276. Venus Gallo — Dove Cameron — tag: vgallo 277. Verona Watkins — Maisie Williams — tag: vwatkins 278. Veronica Beck — Phoebe Tonkin — vbeck 279. Veronica Lodge/Luna — Camilla Mendes — tag: vlodge 280. Vigo Oldbuck — Zac Efron — tag: voldbuck 281. Viki Leick — Gigi Hadid — tag: vleick 282. Violet Addison — Elizabeth Gillies — tag: vaddison 283. Wendell Bray — Michael Grant Terry — tag: wbray 284. William Croxton — James McAvoy — tag: wcroxton 285. Xavier Camden — Thomas Doherty — tag: xcamden 286. Yalena Yardeen — Hannah John-Kamen — tag: yyardeen 287. Zaid Kyle — Chris Wood — tag: zkyle 288. Zakariah Franco — Nick Robinson — tag: zfranco 289. Zarka Nyék — Dakota Kuhn — tag: znyék 290. Zoe Cole — Antonia Thomas —tag: zcole

#textonlymuselist #the new complete list

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thekotaroo · 4 years

Text

Profiles of Pride: June 25th! 🏳️‍🌈Willi Ninja🏳️‍🌈

William Roscoe Leake (April 12, 1961 – September 2, 2006), better known as Willi Ninja, was an American dancer and choreographer best known for his appearance in the documentary film Paris Is Burning.

Ninja, a gay man known as the godfather of voguing, was a fixture of ball culture at Harlem's drag balls who took inspiration from sources as far-flung as Fred Astaire and the world of haute couture to develop a unique style of dance and movement. He caught the attention of Paris is Burning director Jennie Livingston, who featured Ninja prominently in the film. The film, a critical and box office success, served as a springboard for Ninja. He parlayed his appearance into performances with a number of dance troupes and choreography gigs. The film also documents the origins of "voguing", a dance style in which competing ball-walkers freeze and "pose" in glamorous positions (as if being photographed for the cover of Vogue magazine). In 1989, Ninja starred in the music video for Malcolm McLaren's song "Deep in Vogue", which sampled the then-unfinished movie and brought Ninja's style to the mainstream. One year after this, Madonna released her number one song "Vogue", bringing further attention to the dancing style.

He participated in Harlem's drag balls with "children" from his House of Ninja. Like other ball "houses", HoN was a combination of extended social family and dance troupe, with Ninja as its Mother. He taught his "children" late into the night on the old Christopher Street pier and at the underground clubs.

Ninja was a featured dancer in many music videos including Malcolm McLaren's "Deep in Vogue" and "I Can't Get No Sleep" by Masters At Work featuring India. In 1994, he released his single "Hot" (another Masters At Work production) on Nervous Records. Ninja's later career included runway modeling for Jean-Paul Gaultier, performing with dance companies under Karole Armitage, and providing instruction to Paris Hilton on perfecting her walk. He opened a modeling agency, Elements of Ninja, in 2004, and made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Ninja was also prominently featured in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning and the 2006 documentary release How Do I Look directed by Wolfgang Busch.

Ninja also danced in two of Janet Jackson's videos from her album Rhythm Nation 1814, one of which was "Alright", whose remix featured late rap star Heavy D and cameo appearances by Cab Calloway, Cyd Charisse, and The Nicholas Brothers. He also was featured in "Escapade".

Ninja worked hard to care for his mother, Esther Leake, who had Parkinson's and used a wheelchair. Her trips with Ninja to the ballet and the Apollo were inspiration for his later endeavors in dance.

Willi Ninja started the House of Ninja in 1982, with Sandy Apollonia Ninja, despite not having been part of a house previously or winning three grand prizes, which was generally seen as a requirement to start a house. The name Ninja came from the house's Asian and martial arts influences coupled with the fact that people in the ballroom scene did not know who they were and they “seemed to come out of nowhere”. The House of Ninja had a reputation for being multiracial; most houses at the time were African-American, with the notable exception of the Latino House of Xtravaganza. The House of Ninja notably included white men in their competitions. The house closed in 1989 and reopened for a second time in 1991 and reopened a third time by 2003. The House of Ninja currently has over 220 members worldwide. The oldest living Ninja is Archie Burnett Ninja.

#Willi Ninja #Profiles in Pride!#Pride Month #Pride #LGBTQIA+#LGBTQIA+ Rights #LGBTQIA+ Pride #June #June 25th #House of Ninja #HoN #William Roscoe Leake #William Leake

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rayhanania · 2 years

Video

vimeo

05-15_arab_democratic.mp4 (360p).mp4 from Ray Hanania on Vimeo.

The Arab American Democratic Club (AADC) Hosted its pre-election Candidates Forum & Brunch today at Nikos Banquets, 7600 S. Harlem Avenue. More than 100 candidates including in statewide, county and local races and many judges addressed the forum that ran from 10 am until 1:30 PM.

Keynote speakers included Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who gave a powerful and impressive speech on how she has helped improve Illinois ending the 8 month long backlog on payments to now only 3 days. Also keynoting was Arab American Institute President Jim Zogby who received the Miriam Zayed Community Service Award.

ShawnTe Raines-Welch and Nick Kantas, both running for the 4th Judicial District, were among the first group of speakers.

Here's the Ad book of sponsors secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.26/0gl.080.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/UPDATED-1-PDF-05-15-22-FINAL-AADC-Program-Book-SMALL.pdf

Here's a link to watch the Facebook live stream of the event: fb.watch/d1bskyXXDl/

Speakers, Honored Guests and candidate's who were acknowledged and or spoke included:

Kari Steele for Cook County Assessor Lyons President Christopher Getty Pat Hynes, Lyons Township Assessor Mike Porfirio State Senate Candidate in the new 11th District ShawnTe Raines-Welch, candidate 4th SubCircuit Judge Nick Kantas, candidate 4th SubCircuit Judge Abdelnasser Rashid, candidate for State Representative Rena Marie Tyne, Judge Congressman Sean Casten 6th District Congresswoman Marie Newman 6th District State Rep. Fran Hurley 35th District State Rep. Bill Cunningham 28th District Dan Calandriello 17th Cook County Commissioner District Congresswoman Robin Kelly, 2nd District Jim Gleffe, Judge Vernard Alsberry 5th District CC Judge Elizabeth Ryan, Judge Markham Mayor Roger Agpawa Karin Norington-Reaves, Congress Tracie Porter, Judge John Ehrlich, Judge Cook County Commissioner Frank J. Aguilar Delia Ramirez, State Rep. 3rd District Jane Nolan Palos Township Tasneem Abuzir, Palos Township Alexis Giannoulias, Secretary of State candidate David Moore, Secretary of State candidate Fritz Kaegi, Cook County Assessor Bob Maloney, Palos Township Assessor Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett Patricia Flynn, MWRD Mariyana Spyropoulos, MWRD Patrick Watson Dem State Centrasl COmmittee Carmen Quinones, Judge Yolanda Harris Sayre, Judge Frank Avila, MWRD George Cardenas, Board of Review Lamont Williams State Rep. 16th District Patricia Joan Murphy Worth Township Committeewoman Judge Ruth Gudino Mary McMahon, Judge Thomas More Donnelly, Judge Sharon Waller, MWRD Russ Hartigan, Judge Charisse Williams, Congress Daniel Pogorzelski, MWRD Judie Lyn Smith, Judge Andre Smith, Cook CountyCommissioner 2nd District Patrick Watson State Central Committee 6th DistrictAileen Bhandari, Judge 11 SubCircuit Michael Weaver, Judge Deidre Baumann, Judge Judge Rouhi Shalaby Judge Bill Haddad Hassan Nijem, President of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, Jeffery Leving DadsRights.com

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orbemnews · 3 years

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Big Candy Is Angry At first glance, the Skittles package appears to be just like the one sold in the candy aisle of a supermarket: It has block letters filled in with white, a flowing rainbow and a red candy that replaces the dot above the letter “i.” A closer look reveals some small differences: a background pattern of small, stylized marijuana leaves; a warning label; and numbers that reveal the amount of THC, the intoxicating substance in cannabis, in each piece of candy. The images are included in a lawsuit that the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, owned by the candy behemoth Mars Inc., filed in May against five companies for selling cannabis-infused edibles that look like our old friends Skittles, Starburst and Life Savers. Though the suit focuses on intellectual property rights, the plaintiffs also argue that the copycat products could lead people, particularly children, to mistakenly ingest drugs. A spokeswoman for Mars Inc. wrote in an email that the company is “deeply disturbed” by the products. America is at an interesting crossroads: one where Big Candy, vilified in the wellness era as a primary source of refined sugar, has become an unlikely sheriff in the Wild West of recreational marijuana consumption roamed by pandemic-stressed adults. In recent years, lawsuits similar to the one filed by Wrigley have been brought by the Hershey Company (against TinctureBelle for products resembling Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Heath bars, Almond Joy bars and York peppermint patties), Mondelez International (against a company hawking Stoney Patch Kids) and Ferrara Candy Company (against a store selling Medicated Nerds Rope). These lawsuits have all been settled, with the smaller companies agreeing to halt production and sales of the offending products. Many public health officials fret that without proper regulation, accidental ingestion cases will continue to rise among children as the availability of edibles grows. Some poison control centers have already observed this trend in their data. For example, there were 122 cases of exposure to THC for children under 5 in Washington State in the first nine months of 2020, compared to 85 for the same time period in 2019. The most common side effects reported included vomiting, lethargy and chest pain. While many edible companies operating in states where medical or recreational cannabis is legal strive to comply with their local regulations, the illegal market is still thriving. “When companies like these create headlines for doing what we’ve purposely avoided at Wana, I feel anger and frustration,” said Joe Hodas, the chief marketing officer at Wana Brands, a Colorado company that sells cannabis-infused products. A recent review of the websites belonging to defendants in the Wrigley suit turned up cannabis-infused offerings like Stoner Patch Dummies, the Worlds Dankest Gushers, Gasheads Xtremes Sourfuls, Trips Ahoy, Buttafingazzz and Caribo Happy Cola. “The situation has become more and more egregious,” said Christopher Gindlesperger, a spokesman for the National Confectioners Association, a trade organization in D.C. with 350 members, including Mars Inc., Hershey’s, Ferrara and Mondelez. “The cannabis companies cannot and should not be allowed to tarnish existing brands at will. It creates consumer confusion.” Discreet Little Treats A majority of states now allow the use of medical marijuana (Alabama just joined the list), and 18 of them, including New York, have legalized recreational marijuana as well. Though sales in New York are not expected to begin until 2022 at the earliest, businesses are rushing to grab real estate and prepare for the market’s opening. Some are already selling Delta-8-THC, derived from hemp, in candy form. The spread of legalization has brought more players and consumers into the edibles market. “Edibles are easy. They’re portable. You don’t have to find a space to step aside and smoke,” said Sean Arnold, a founder of Terradigm Consulting, which advises cannabis companies on licensing, infrastructure and product development. Edibles have come a long way from the days of pot brownies, when half a pastry could lead to hours of debilitated function or to nothing at all. “Ten years ago it was the luck of the draw if you bought a brownie,” said Henry Wykowski, a lawyer who has focused on cannabis law for 17 years. “You didn’t know where you would wind up.” Today, licensed manufacturers are required by states to test their products for potency and to label packages with the amount of THC in each dose, and in the entire package. Some edibles companies make products with small amounts of THC, allowing the inexperienced to experiment with dosages. The accessibility of edibles and the discretion they afford has made them the fastest-growing category in cannabis, according to Surfside, a cannabis data-analytics company in New York. Surfside estimates that edibles have outpaced the growth of the rest of the cannabis market by 29 percent in the last three months compared with the same period in 2020. Mr. Wykowski said that transgressions that may have escaped the notice of large corporations like Mars or Hershey’s in the past are on their radar today “because cannabis is big business now.” He teaches a course on cannabis law at University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, and one of the sessions deals with laws around likenesses of other products. “Five or 10 years ago when cannabis was starting to take off, it was a joke to have something like Cap’n Punch, a cereal that’s infused,” Mr. Wykowski said. “But the industry has matured, and the people who know what they’re doing no longer engage in that kind of conduct.” Nonetheless, he regularly works with edibles companies that receive cease-and-desist letters from candy corporations. Most of these cases do not reach the courts. “Ninety percent of the time people will look at the letter and stop,” Mr. Wykowski said. Most legal cannabis companies strive to follow regulations closely. Lightshade, which runs nine dispensaries in the Denver area, has an eight-person compliance and auditing team led by Charisse Harris. Ms. Harris said that there are four checkpoints at which a product is assessed, and that every week, her auditors do random checks in the stores. Some red flags include products that feature any iteration of the word “candy” (for example, “kandy” or “candie”), and ones that do not come in packaging that meets state requirements around child safety, Ms. Harris said. “I say no a lot,” she added. Compliance becomes more complicated for companies operating in different states, since there are no federal regulations around cannabis. “In Florida, our packaging is black-and-white, and there are no images,” Mr. Hodas said of Wana, which operates in 11 states and in Canada. The gummies are a plain off-white color. In Colorado, on the other hand, the Wana container has a picture of pink watermelon slices and the gummies are a rich coral hue. There are three main aspects of a candy that can be protected by trademark and copyright laws, said Nancy J. Mertzel, a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property law. Take Hershey’s Kisses. “You have the name Kisses, which is a trademark, the shape of the candy itself, which is both a trademark and trade dress, and the packaging, which is protected by copyright,” Ms. Mertzel said. Ms. Mertzel said other possible intellectual property protections include patents — for example, Mars has sought patents for its chocolate, which is more resistant to melting than other formulations — and trade-secret laws. The most famous example of a trade secret is the Coca-Cola formula; another is Hellmann’s mayonnaise. The case Wrigley has brought against the cannabis copycats, Ms. Mertzel said, is straightforward. “I certainly understand Wrigley’s concerns about having its intellectual property used by a third party, and those concerns are exacerbated when it’s for a product that children really shouldn’t be getting,” Ms. Mertzel said. She compared the public health concerns at stake to those that were widely discussed when the tobacco industry used cartoons to target children in the 1960s. Even the Flintstones were in on it, with Fred and Barney promoting Winston cigarettes in an infamous commercial spot. Child-Proofing Cannabis Andrew Brisbo, the executive director of the Marijuana Regulatory Agency in Michigan, said that preventing youth access to cannabis is one of the primary functions of the program he oversees. And edibles are top of mind. “When we look at accidental consumption, edibles are a primary issue,” Mr. Brisbo said. “A young person won’t accidentally smoke a marijuana cigarette.” Gillian Schauer, a public health and policy consultant who has worked with a number of states on cannabis policy issues, said there are two potential concerns with edibles from a public health policy perspective: overconsumption and accidental consumption. Because edibles can take a while to kick in, people sometimes rush to eat more without waiting for the first effects. Some inexperienced users do not know what amount of THC they should consume and are not educated on the potential effects of cannabis. A low-dose amount is considered 1 to 2 milligrams of THC, but effects vary based on many factors, like body weight and how much food the consumer ate that day. Accidental consumption can affect anyone, but, Dr. Schauer said, “it has primarily impacted children because they can confuse cannabis edible products with other edible products, because most edibles look like candy or cookies or cake.” She pointed to reports compiled by poison control centers in Colorado and Washington, the two earliest states to legalize recreational cannabis use, in 2012. Between 2014 and 2018, annual calls to the Washington Poison Center about children under 5 being unintentionally exposed to cannabis nearly tripled, rising from 34 to 94. In 2017, Washington State began requiring that all edibles have a logo stating “Not for Kids” (not that this will mean much to a 2-year-old). In Colorado, edibles are the leading method by which children under 5 accidentally consume cannabis. In 2019, in Colorado, 108 people under the age of 19 were accidentally exposed to cannabis. In 2011, the year before the state legalized recreational use, that number was 16. Like Washington, Colorado now requires packaging of edibles to include a warning symbol. The state also bans the use of the word “candy” on any marijuana packaging, and the sale of edibles that look like people, animals or fruit. Dr. Schauer said other ways to reduce the risks of accidental ingestion include mandating childproof packaging, requiring that each edible item in a package is individually wrapped, limiting the potency of each individual edible, and educating consumers who live with children on how to store their cannabis products. Making packages that will not catch the eye of a child is important, she said. In Canada, for example, where cannabis is legal, federal law requires packaging to have a uniform color and a smooth texture, and not to have cutout windows, scents, sounds or inserts (among other requirements). Despite the stringency of Canada’s laws, as recently as mid-May, a child was hospitalized in the province of New Brunswick after eating Stoneo cookies that were made to look like Oreos, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In America, state laws are far less strict; for the most part, they prohibit the inclusion of cartoon characters and make general statements about how the packaging should not appeal to a child. “The risks can be much more limited than we’ve seen them be so far,” Dr. Schauer said. Mr. Hodas has three children, aged 12, 17 and 19. He has been in the cannabis industry for more than seven years. When he has products at home, he keeps them secure in bags made by StashLogix. It may not slow down a motivated 15-year-old, but it will stop a toddler, he said. “If you have it locked up, and you keep in a place where they can’t reach it or see it, that’s the best way to prevent ingestion,” Mr. Hodas said. To parents of a certain age, the situation may bring to mind the 1983 public service announcement “We’re Not Candy,” in which a barbershop quartet of singing pills on television advises children “to have a healthy fear of us.” That the products now under scrutiny are a form of candy, just enhanced — and that no one is watching the same screen anymore — makes it difficult to imagine a marijuana meme so memorable. Source link Orbem News #angry #Big #Candy

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dailynewswebsite · 3 years

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When families of murder victims speak at death penalty trials, their anguish may make sentencing less fair

4 of the 10 federal prisoners executed this 12 months: Wesley Purkey, killed July 16; Dustin Honken, killed July 17; Brandon Bernard, killed Dec. 10; and Alfred Bourgeois, killed Dec. 11. In some instances, survivors of their victims addressed the courtroom. AP Picture

The Trump administration is spending its ultimate months authorizing executions. Ten federal demise row prisoners have been killed up to now this 12 months, ending a 17-year federal moratorium on making use of the demise penalty.

States, then again, are finishing up fewer executions this 12 months – seven up to now – than in any 12 months since 1983, when 5 individuals had been executed. That is partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic poses critical well being dangers for the personnel liable for placing prisoners to demise.

Among the many state executions postponed this 12 months was that of Pervis Payne, who in November was granted a brief reprieve by Tennessee’s governor till April 9, 2021. Payne was sentenced to demise in 1988 for the stabbing deaths of 28-year-old Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter. He additionally was convicted of assault with intent to commit first-degree homicide of Christopher’s 3-year-old son, who survived.

Payne’s is a big case in America’s demise penalty historical past as a result of, in 1991, the US Supreme Court docket used it to affirm the proper of homicide victims’ households to take part within the penalty section of capital instances.

Their private testimony offers surviving relations the prospect to inform judges and juries concerning the affect of crimes on their lives. Sufferer affect statements at the moment are an everyday a part of the capital sentencing course of in each federal and state capital trials.

Sufferer affect statements have remodeled the demise penalty course of, my analysis on capital punishment reveals – together with due to how they’ve been handled by the Supreme Court docket.

California, which has 737 individuals on demise row, halted all executions due to the pandemic. California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation by way of Getty Photos

Recognizing victims’ rights

All through most of American historical past, victims performed little position in, and had little affect on, the prison justice system.

Within the 1960s and 1970s, an organized victims’ rights motion started to emerge in response to the perceived pro-defendant tilt of the Supreme Court docket led by then-Chief Justice Earl Warren. Crime victims pushed for the proper to be heard at crucial junctures within the prosecution of offenders, particularly when sentencing selections had been made.

That push was particularly sturdy in homicide instances. Within the 1970s and 1980s, a number of states, together with Tennessee, adopted laws affording homicide victims’ households the proper to take part in capital instances.

Defendants in some demise instances challenged the usage of sufferer affect statements, asserting that the data they contained was irrelevant to condemn determinations and risked inflaming the passions of the jury.

In 1987, the US Supreme Court docket took up one in all these challenges. In Sales space v. Maryland, it thought of whether or not sufferer affect testimony violated the Eighth Modification’s ban on “merciless and weird punishment.” The courtroom, in a 5-Four determination, held that it did.

In its majority opinion, Justice Lewis Powell wrote that as a result of sufferer affect statements current the jury with emotionally compelling testimony, there may be substantial danger of prejudice. They focus consideration on components of which the defendants had been “unaware” and “divert the jury’s concern from the defendant’s background and document, and the circumstances of the crime.”

Such testimony, then, threatens to undermine the “reasoned determination making we require in capital instances.”

4 years later, following the retirement of two justices who voted in opposition to sufferer affect statements, the Supreme Court docket used Pervis Payne’s case to rethink them. This time it discovered them constitutional in capital instances.

In an opinion authored by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the courtroom conceded Justice Powell’s level that sufferer affect statements “don’t typically replicate on the defendant’s ‘blameworthiness.’”

But it surely concluded that punishment might and must be meted out in another way relying on the hurt that’s really completed.

“Sufferer affect proof,” Rehnquist argued, “is just one other kind or methodology of informing the sentencing authority concerning the particular hurt brought on by the crime in query. …” It ensures that the sufferer is just not a “faceless stranger,” he wrote, and redresses the “unfairness” of prison sentencing, which focuses solely on the life and circumstances of the offender.

Demise penalty opponents close to the jail the place Daniel Lewis Lee, the primary federal prisoner executed in 17 years, was scheduled to be killed on July 13, 2020, in Terre Haute, Indiana. Scott Olson/Getty Photos

Grief, anger and racial bias

Sufferer affect proof has had a big affect in demise penalty trials since then.

“[I]n the previous capital sentencing pitted the defendant in opposition to the State,” wrote regulation professor Marcus Dubber in a Buffalo Regulation Evaluate article printed after the Supreme Court docket’s determination. At present, Dubber mentioned, the defendant “encounters an much more formidable opponent” throughout sentencing: the victims’ grieving household.

Analysis means that in lots of instances sufferer testimony provokes anger amongst jurors, compromising the rationality of their deliberations. Jurors use the grief expressed in sufferer affect statements as a “proxy for the extent of defendant’s … culpability, and by implication, the perceived seriousness of the crime,” in line with professors Janice Nadler and Mary Rose.

However not all sufferer testimony is handled equally.

Analysis reveals that jurors are likely to take the struggling of some victims’ households extra severely than others, relying on their social standing. As regulation professor Susan Bandes notes, “A homicide sufferer who met her assailant in a biker bar, for instance, is valued lower than a homicide sufferer attacked whereas withdrawing cash from an ATM machine.”

Prosecutors are likely to encourage households of middle-class victims to make statements whereas discouraging households from different backgrounds from doing so.

Students have discovered that sufferer affect proof additionally contributes to the already substantial racial variations in capital sentencing, with juries giving extra weight to the struggling of white homicide victims’ households.

Mourning in courtroom

Advocates for victims declare that having the chance to speak about their loss promotes therapeutic and closure.

However giving a sufferer affect assertion usually doesn’t present a psychological profit, in line with Marilyn Armour, who directs the Institute for Restorative Justice and Restorative Dialogue on the College of Texas at Austin.

A member of the family of a homicide sufferer, consoled by her father, offers her affect assertion at a capital trial in California on Aug. 16, 2013. Stan Lim/Digital First Media/The Press-Enterprise by way of Getty Photos

Not like church buildings, cemeteries and even therapists’ workplaces – conventional websites for mourning and expressing outrage at merciless loss – courtrooms will not be “effectively suited to help with the therapeutic course of,” says Bandes.

When victims converse in capital instances, public scrutiny invades their non-public struggling. Neither judges nor jurors are skilled to take care of that deeply emotional course of, and “no one ensures defendants will reply appropriately” or that victims’ households will obtain the justice that they search.

Not all households of homicide victims need the killer put to demise. Within the case of Daniel Lee Lewis, the primary particular person executed by the Trump administration, the victims’ relations spoke out in opposition to his sentence and execution.

That they had a voice in courtroom, however didn’t get the justice they wished.

Austin Sarat doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or group that will profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their educational appointment.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/when-families-of-murder-victims-speak-at-death-penalty-trials-their-anguish-may-make-sentencing-less-fair/ via https://growthnews.in

#Growth News

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