Posted: Thursday, February 23, 2012 3:00 pm | Updated: 11:15 am, Thu Feb 23, 2012.

By CALEB BEDILLION of  Daily Leader

Lawyers with the Mississippi Innocence Project argued in a bench trial Wednesday that two 2001 Lincoln County convictions should be thrown out.

Leigh Stubbs, 32, and Tammy Vance, 43, were convicted in 2001 on aggravated assault for the beating of Janet Kimberly Williams, who was traveling with them from Columbus to Louisiana. The incident happened at a Brookhaven hotel.

      Stubbs and Vance were both sentenced to 44 years for the assault charge and several drug-related convictions.