District Judge William H. Haynes Jr. in Nashville ordered a stay of the Dec. 12 execution of Pervis Payne

District Judge William H. Haynes Jr. in Nashville ordered a stay of the Dec. 12 execution of Pervis Payne. Payne, who was convicted of the June 27, 1987 fatal stabbing of a woman and her daughter, Charisse Christopher, 28, and Lacie Christopher, 2, had asked for a stay in light of both the recent decision by another federal court judge in Nashville that the state's lethal injection method could constitute cruel and unusual punishment, and the United States Supreme Courts' decision to take up a similar challenge in Kentucky.