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 the results of the tests could exonerate Payne in the 1987 fatal stabbings of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie Jo.
