Judge Grants DNA Testing in Pervis Payne Case

A judge has granted DNA testing on evidence in the case of Pervis Payne, a Black man who is set to be executed on Dec. 3 for murders he has always said he did not commit. Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan ordered the testing over the objections of Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich.

Payne was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of a white woman named Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter Lacie Jo. But he has always maintained that he was an innocent bystander who came upon the horrific scene while checking to see if his girlfriend was at her apartment across the hall.

The previously untested evidence includes the knife that was used as the murder weapon and a number of other items from the crime scene that have never been tested. Payne's legal team — which includes Nashville-based supervising assistant federal public defender Kelley Henry and attorneys from the Innocence Project — has argued that testing could exonerate him if his DNA is not found on the items, or if another person's is discovered. Weirich has said in court filings and public statements that the results of such testing won't make a difference in the case, emphasizing the circumstantial evidence tying Payne to the murders and the fact that testing can't show when a person's DNA was left on an item.

Payne requested DNA testing in 2006 but was denied based on a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that has since been reversed. In addition to his innocence claim, Payne's attorneys have also argued that he is not competent to be executed because of intellectual disabilities. 

“The court’s thoughtful and reasoned decision to order DNA testing in Pervis Payne’s case is just and in line with Tennessee’s clear DNA testing law," Vanessa Potkin, director of post-conviction litigation at The Innocence Project, says in a written statement. "When DNA evidence exists in a death penalty case, as it does here, it should always be tested to avoid the irreversible act of executing an innocent man. Mr. Payne never should have been put on death row because he has an intellectual disability. The U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of people with intellectual disability, making the State’s pursuit of Mr. Payne’s execution all the more appalling. We have been clear from the beginning that DNA testing can be completed within 60 days. DNA testing is an important piece of the puzzle in this case which has been racially-charged from the start.”

Within minutes of the ruling, Henry told the Scene that Payne's legal team was packing up the evidence and on their way to FedEx to send it off for testing.