An intellectually disabled former Tennessee death row inmate will be eligible for parole in about five years after a judge re-sentenced him Monday to serve two concurrent life sentences, giving hope to Pervis Payne's family that he could be a free man relatively soon after serving more than three decades in prison.
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan sentenced Payne to two life sentences that will run at the same time. Payne received the new sentences after he was removed from death row by the judge in November based on decisions by two court-appointed experts that Payne, 54, was intellectually disabled and could not be executed.
