The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from longtime Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed who has sought to test crime-scene evidence that he says will help clear him.

Reed, on death row for more than 25 years, says he is innocent of the 1996 killing of Stacey Stites in Bastrop County.

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.

The Supreme Court has ruled that longtime Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed should have a chance to argue for testing of crime-scene evidence that he says will help clear him.

The nation’s high court heard arguments Tuesday on whether Reed can seek DNA testing of crucial evidence in the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop County.

Reed has long professed his innocence in the 1996 murder for which he faces execution. Key evidence in the case has not been tested for DNA, including the ligature used to strangle 19-year-old Stacey Stites.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, who claims untested crime-scene evidence will help clear him.

Doubts over Reed’s guilt in the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites have lingered for more than 20 years and gained international attention. But a judge decided against recommending a new trial.

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 Stites’ death began in 1998. Calls to stop Reed’s execution also came from numerous Democratic presidential candidates and A-list celebrities on daytime TV shows and the red carpet.

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 Reed’s lawyers is pending to force DNA testing of crime scene evidence. Reed’s 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.