Rodney Reed is currently scheduled for execution on November 20th for the 1996 murder of Stacey Sites in Texas. Ms. Stites, who was 19, was strangled, dumped on a road, and found dead. Prosecutors claim that she had been raped and because of that claim, Mr. Reed was arrested because of DNA tests. However, Mr. Reed claimed that Ms. Stites and himself have been having an affair in secret, and that is the reasoning for his DNA to be recovered in from her body.
Rodney Reed who is now 51, has caught the attention of a few celebrities such as Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and Meek Mill. They have called on Governer Greg Abbot to intervene because Texas executes far more people than any other state. (so far there have been 7 executions just in 2019)
New evidence has recently come out arguing that previously, the state's forensic investigators made critical errors regarding the timeline of the killing, which has been later admitted by investigators in affidavits. They also want Ms. Stites' belt to be tested with DNA evidence because it is supposedly the strangle murder weapon.
MOST RECENTLY - Several people have come forward with new testimony saying that Ms. Stites's ex-fiancé, Jimmy Fennell should be the main suspect for this case. Jimmy Fennel was a former police officer who even spent time in prison during 2018 for pleading guilty to kidnapping a woman he had encountered while on duty. The woman said he had also raped her. (which sounds incredibly similar behavior, to which he may have done to Stites). There were even prison mates of Fennel who swore they heard Mr. Fennel confess to the murder of Ms. Stites.
Many questions have been brought up such as "How can you execute a man when, since his trial, substantial evidence that would exonerate Rodney Reed has come forward and even implicates the other person of interest," Kim Kardashian West, or "I don't think it's a question of whether he's guilty or not guilty. I think the question is whether he had a full trial, with a full airing of all the evidence." -Phil McGraw.
The offer that is being brought to the table, especially for Governor Greg Abbott, is to at least postpone his execution, and hopefully have another fair trial to prove the innocence of this man.
“10 Facts You Need to Know About Rodney Reed Who Is Scheduled for Execution.” Innocence Project, 1 Nov. 2019, www.innocenceproject.org/10-facts-you-need-to-know-about-rodney-reed-who-is-scheduled-for-execution-on-november-20/.
Bogel-burroughs, Nicholas. “What We Know About Rodney Reed's Death Row Case in Texas.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/rodney-reed-death-row-texas.html.
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-execution-of-rodney-reed/d?source_location=combo_psf
-help save an innocent man from being wrongfully executed
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