diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php
index 2ec9ac30c..d73983c36 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Persisters/BasicEntityPersister.php
@@ -808,7 +808,6 @@ class BasicEntityPersister
             return array(array(), array());
         }
 
-        $persister = $this;
         $valueVisitor = new SqlValueVisitor();
         $valueVisitor->dispatch($expression);