Payne v. Tennessee
| Payne v. Tennessee | |
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| Argued April 24, 1991 Decided June 27, 1991 |
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| Full case name | Pervis Tyrone Payne v. Tennessee |
| Citations | 501 U.S. 808 (more)
111 S.Ct. 2597; 115 L.Ed.2d 720
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| Prior history | Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Tennessee |
| Holding | |
| The admission of a victim impact statement does not violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by White, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter |
| Concurrence | O'Connor, joined by White, Kennedy |
| Concurrence | Scalia, joined by O'Connor, Kennedy |
| Concurrence | Souter, joined by Kennedy |
| Dissent | Marshall, joined by Blackmun |
| Dissent | Stevens, joined by Blackmun |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. VIII | |
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This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
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Booth v. Maryland (1987) South Carolina v. Gathers (1989) |
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Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991), was a United States Supreme Court case which held that testimony in the form of a victim impact statement is admissible during the sentencing phase of a trial and, in death penalty cases, does not violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment. Payne narrowed two of the Courts' precedents: Booth v. Maryland (1987) and South Carolina v. Gathers (1989).
Pervis Tyrone Payne was the defendant in this trial prosecuted in Tennessee. On Saturday, June 27, 1987, he attempted to rape an acquaintance of his, Charisse Christopher, and finally he murdered her and her two-year-old daughter, Lacie. Neighbors heard noises and yelling, and called the police. Upon arriving, a police officer "immediately encountered Payne who was leaving the apartment building, so covered in blood that he appeared to be 'sweating blood'".
The police found "a horrifying scene." Forty-two stab wounds were on Charisse's body, and Lacie and Nicholas, Charisse's son, had suffered stab wounds as well. Payne fled to his girlfriend's house, and discarded his clothes, which were soaked in blood. Meanwhile, Nicholas Christopher held in his intestines while the emergency medical technicians transported him to the emergency room. There was significant physical evidence implicating the defendant: Payne's fingerprints on cans of malt liquor, the victims' blood soaked into his clothes, and his property left at the scene of the crime.
Dozens of witnesses, including the police, friends, the neighbors, and experts, testified at the trial. The evidence that he perpetrated the attacks was "overwhelming," according to Chief Justice Rehnquist. Payne denied the charges, claiming he came upon the bloody victims. The district attorney stressed, in his closing arguments, the senselessness of the killings, the violence displayed by the defendant, and the innocence of the victims. The jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder and a related charge.
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