MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Attorneys for death row inmate Pervis Payne want a judge to remove the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office from the case.
Lawyers for Payne submitted the motion asking for the D.A.’s office to be disqualified due to a possible conflict of interest.
According to the motion, Assistant Shelby County District Attorney Stephen Jones was a Capital Case Staff Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee for two years – from 1996 to 1998. The two years before that, Jones was a law clerk for Judge Joe. B Jones in the court of Criminal Appeals.
The motion said as a Capital Case Staff Attorney, Stephen Jones provided legal guidance to judges on death row cases.
At issue, Payne’s attorneys want it investigated whether Jones was working as a Capital Case Staff Attorney when at least one post-conviction relief motion was dismissed in Payne’s case in 1996.
The motion said an email sent by Jones on September 30, 2021, confirmed another Assistant Shelby County District Attorney was not handling any of the Payne matters because of her work as a former Capital Case Staff Attorney. Lawyers said the email also said Jones was not handling any cases on which he had worked as a Capital Case Staff Attorney.
Payne was convicted in the 1987 murders of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo, in Millington.
Governor Bill Lee delayed Payne's execution in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The next hearing scheduled for Payne's case is on Dec. 13th. A state expert is scheduled that day to present an evaluation on whether Payne has an intellectual disability, which would mean he should legally be taken off death row.
