MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An attorney for Pervis Payne says DNA evidence belonging to the Tennessee death row inmate has been found on part of a knife used in the slayings of a mother and daughter 33 years ago, but DNA from an unknown man also was found on the murder weapon.
Attorney Kelley Henry presented a report on DNA tests on the knife and other evidence ordered by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan in September.
Henry and the Innocence Project hoped results of the tests could exonerate Payne in the 1987 fatal stabbings of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo.
Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich issued the following statement following Tuesday's hearing: “Judge Skahan dismissed the defendant’s petition today because nothing in the DNA testing exonerates Pervis Payne. The evidence of Payne’s guilt was and still is overwhelming. The jurors declared so with their verdict in 1988. Countless appellate courts have said it since. Partial unidentified DNA on the handle of the murder weapon is a false mystery. It could have come from any one at any time – before or after the murders.”
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(INNOCENCE PROJECT NEWS RELEASE) - Today, the Innocence Project submitted results of DNA testing to the Shelby County Criminal Court in Pervis Payne’s case pursuant to the Court’s September 16, 2020 order for testing. Governor Lee has given Mr. Payne a reprieve of execution due to the COVID-19 pandemic until April 9, 2021 and his petition for clemency is currently pending. Mr. Payne is a person with intellectual disability who has consistently asserted his innocence from the beginning.
Statement from the Innocence Project and Pervis Payne’s Legal Team
on Today’s DNA Testing Results
“We are thankful that the Court allowed for advances in scientific testing to be used in this case to help reveal the truth. The DNA testing results are consistent with Pervis Payne’s long-standing claim of innocence. Male DNA from an unknown third party was found on key evidence including the murder weapon, but unfortunately, is too degraded to identify an alternate suspect via the FBI’s database. We continue to find it frustrating and disturbing that the State still has no explanation for how key pieces of DNA evidence that could conclusively prove who committed this crime—including the victim’s fingernail clippings —have gone missing. Today’s results make crystal clear that it would be a gross miscarriage of justice for Tennessee to execute Pervis Payne.
-- Vanessa Potkin, Director of Post-Conviction Litigation, Innocence Project
-- Kelley Henry, Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender, Middle District of Tennessee, Capital Habeas Unit
-- January 19, 2021
