MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Death row inmate Pervis Payne's motion to disqualify the Shelby County District Attorney's Office from the case has been denied.
According to court documents released Friday from the judge, the petitioner argued in October the office should be disqualified from the case because the Shelby County Assistant District Attorney General, Steve Jones, once served as a Capital Case Attorney with the Tennessee court system - all while Payne's post-conviction petition and petition for writ of error coram nobis were pending.
In the ruling released Friday, the judge said Payne's attorneys failed to establish Jones worked on Payne's case during Jones' time as a capital case attorney.
The judge also said Jones did not learn confidential information or other information that would require Jones, or his office, to be disqualified.
Payne was convicted in the 1987 murders of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo, in Millington. His execution was delayed last year by Gov. Bill Lee due to the pandemic.
Payne is set to reappear in court on December 13.