Judge rules for DNA testing in Tennessee death penalty case

This undated photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Pervis Payne. A new report by a think tank examining executions in the United States says death penalty cases show a long history of racial disparity, from who is executed to where and for what crimes. The report also details several case studies in which race may be playing a role today, including Payne, accused of the 1987 stabbing deaths of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP) This undated photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Pervis Payne. A new report by a think tank examining executions in the United States says death penalty cases show a long history of racial disparity, from who is executed to where and for what crimes. The report also details several case studies in which race may be playing a role today, including Payne, accused of the 1987 stabbing deaths of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo. (Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)

By ADRIAN SAINZ / Associated Press September 16, 2020 4 min read

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – DNA tests on a knife and other evidence must be performed in the case of a Tennessee death row inmate facing execution in December for the stabbing deaths of a woman and her daughter 33 years ago, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Shelby County Judge Paula Skahan ruled in favor of attorneys for Pervis Payne, who had filed a petition in July requesting DNA testing in the long-running case. The judge decided the evidence should be sent to a California laboratory hired by defense attorneys to perform expedited testing at no cost to the state.

Payne, 53, is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3 in Nashville. Payne’s attorneys hope that he could be exonerated if his DNA is not found on the items, or if another man’s DNA is discovered on the evidence.

“He’s going to be overjoyed,” Payne’s cousin, Karen Anderson, said outside the courtroom.

Payne has always maintained his innocence in the 1987 stabbing deaths of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo. Christopher’s son, Nicholas, who was 3 at the time, also was stabbed but survived.