Texasโ highest criminal court emphatically rejects death row inmate Rodney Reedโs claim of innocence
Reed, a Black man on death row for more than 25 years, has gained international support for his claims that he did not kill 19-year-old Stacey Stites, a white woman. Another appeal over DNA testing of evidence is still pending.
Texas parole board recommends Greg Abbott delay Rodney Reed execution
YouTube screenshotThe fate of death row inmate Rodney Reed rests in Republican Texas Gov. Abbott has stopped one execution since taking office in 2015, also at the unanimous urging of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Reed, now 51, was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop. Reed was indicted, but never convicted, in several other rape cases months before his trial in Stitesโ death began in 1998. Calls to stop Reedโs execution also came from numerous Democratic presidential candidates and A-list celebrities on daytime TV shows and the red carpet.
Bexar County DA joins list of people wanting a stay of execution for Texas inmate
Rodney Reed is scheduled to be executed Nov. 20 for the killing of a 19-year-old woman in Central Texas. A federal lawsuit filed by Reedโs lawyers is pending to force DNA testing of crime scene evidence. Reedโs lawyers said the testing, which has been fought for years by prosecutors, could identify someone else as the murderer. "There are simply too many unanswered questions surrounding the Rodney Reed case to continue forward with a November 20th execution. I do not know if Rodney Reed is guilty or innocent, but the harm done by executing a potentially innocent man is immeasurable.