GUILTY TX - Stacey Stites, 19, found murdered, Bastrop, 23 April 1996 *Appeal denied*

[wfgodot]

Rodney Reed: Another Innocent Man On Texas Death Row? (The Nation)

At first glance, Texas’s capital case against Rodney Reed looks fairly persuasive.

Nineteen-year-old Stacey Stites was found dead in a wooded area just off a county road in Bastrop, Texas, in 1996. She was half-naked, with Reed’s DNA inside her. The DNA was the “Cinderella’s slipper,” special prosecutor Lisa Tanner told the jury at trial: it matched Reed’s; therefore, Reed was the murderer.
 
But what if it weren’t that simple?
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interesting, lengthy look at the case at link above

 

[badhorsie]

Very thought provoking article.

 

[LillieBelle]

Rodney Reed is innocent and I wish the Innocence Project would take a look at his case. Stacy's killer was her fiancee who is now in a Texas prison for kidnapping and rape committed while he was a police officer! I mean that alone should prompt a second look. But, when Rodney Reed's case came up for appeal, the daughter (now a judge herself) of the original judge oversaw the case. Now, how unbiased can she be? JMHO, of course...

 

[kgeaux]

I haven't read the article at the link yet; just wanted to jump in and say it would be a flat out miracle if there is only ONE innocent man on Death Row.

Off to read....

 

[JeannaT]

I totally agree with Kgeaux, and when I saw this title I was prepared to say YES.

When I saw the subject, Rodney Reed, my heart is so filled with anger.

Living in central Texas and having followed this case, I am BEYOND sure that he needs a new trial, at the very least.

LillieBelle, I totally agree with your observations. This case stinks to high heaven.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/bastrop-convicted-murderer-rodney-reed-set-to-die-/ngfjG/

Death row inmate Rodney Reed, who was convicted of capital murder in the grisly 1996 rape and slaying of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, received a Jan. 14, 2015 date of execution on Monday morning from visiting Judge Doug Shaver.

Following a 30-minute delay, Reed was escorted into the court room around 11:30 a.m. wearing red and white striped prison garb as friends and family members sporting solid-white t-shirts emblazoned with “Free Rodney Reed” in bold, black letters watched from across the aisle.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed prior to the hearing that several pieces of evidence from the crime scene would be sent to the Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory Service in Garland for additional DNA testing, according to an order signed by Bastrop County District Attorney Bryan Goertz and defense attorney Bryce Benjet. Because of the January date, the crime lab will have an ample amount of time to analyze the evidence, Shaver said.

 

[nomoresorrow]

With a looming execution date of January 15, 2015, now would certainly be the time for The Innocence Project to get involved. Does anyone know if any requests have been sent to them to review Rodney's case? TIA.

 

[Nova]

I haven't read the article at the link yet; just wanted to jump in and say it would be a flat out miracle if there is only ONE innocent man on Death Row.

Off to read....

Exactly!

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.therepublic.com/view/sto...2fc724/US--Supreme-Court-Texas-Death-Sentence

A black inmate on Texas' death row who claims he had a clandestine relationship with a white woman but did not rape or kill her is asking the Supreme Court to take his case. Rodney Reed tells the court that his trial lawyers did a poor job defending him and he suggests that the victim's fiance, a police officer now imprisoned for a sex crime, could have been the killer.

The secret affair that Reed claims he had with Stacey Stites, after first denying he knew her, is one among many unusual and sometimes conflicting aspects of a case that has aroused passionate support from those who believe he is innocent and equally fervent cries that he should be put to death...

It was not the first time Reed tried to deflect a charge of sexual assault by saying the woman consented. Using that argument, he had been acquitted of a 1987 rape.

 

[bwt42]

With a looming execution date of January 15, 2015, now would certainly be the time for The Innocence Project to get involved. Does anyone know if any requests have been sent to them to review Rodney's case? TIA.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/30/us-usa-illinois-murder-innocence-idUSKBN0IJ21I20141030

Northwestern University journalism students instrumental in getting Anthony Porter freed from death row. Seems an investigator for the project got another man to falsely admit to the crime & Porter was released. The other man was convicted but has now claimed he falsely claimed to the crime & a judge freed him. This was the case that led to abolishing the death penalty in Illinois. I wonder if the NU students will admit their mistake? NOT.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.elgincourier.com/news/article_8db25b28-6438-11e4-912c-c7e276257936.html

Time is running out for the Bastrop County man, Rodney Reed, on death row with a Jan. 14, 2015, execution date, since Reed’s latest appeal was denied review by the U.S. Supreme Court Monday.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ve-19-year-old-strangled-death-cop-fianc.html

Family members of a 19-year-old woman who was raped and murdered nearly two decades ago are now coming forward to voice their belief that the man about to be executed for her death is innocent.

Rodney Reed is scheduled to be put to death in January, after being found guilty for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, the engaged Giddings, Texas woman he was allegedly having an affair with at the time.

But dozens of family and friends of both Reed and the victim believe it was Stites' violent and controlling fiancé Jimmy Lewis Fennell, Jr, a former cop, who actually carried out the crime, and that he escaped suspicion due to a botched police investigation and rushed criminal trial. Fennell is currently serving a 10-year sentence for raping a woman in 2007 while on duty in Georgetown, Texas. That victim has also joined the last-ditch effort to save Reed before it's too late.

 

[bwt42]

let this angel go.

 

[FleaSpirit]

He is scheduled to visit the afterlife in January.

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/11/17/is-texas-getting-ready-kill-innocent-man/

 

[jellybeanz]

That cop sounds like a right horrible piece of work.

I hope Reed gets his hearing.

 

[FleaSpirit]

True, but at this point the cop is harmless.

He is not the one who has scheduled to kill someone in January.

Any criticism for the judges?

 

[DizzyErin9988]

This is horrible!! Any petitions going?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bessie]

MSM

Murder victim's family in last-ditch effort to save man convicted of killing her from execution...saying they believe 19-year-old was strangled to death by her cop fiancé
By Ashley Collman for MailOnline

Published: 16:13 EST, 18 November 2014 | Updated: 18:09 EST, 18 November 2014

Family members of a 19-year-old woman who was raped and murdered nearly two decades ago are now coming forward to voice their belief that the man about to be executed for her death is innocent.

Rodney Reed is scheduled to be put to death in January, after being found guilty for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, the engaged Giddings, Texas woman he was allegedly having an affair with at the time.

But dozens of family and friends of both Reed and the victim believe it was Stites' violent and controlling fiancé Jimmy Lewis Fennell, Jr, a former cop, who actually carried out the crime, and that he escaped suspicion due to a botched police investigation and rushed criminal trial.

Fennell is currently serving a 10-year sentence for raping a woman in 2007 while on duty in Georgetown, Texas. That victim has also joined the last-ditch effort to save Reed before it's too late.

'I just know he did [it],' Stites' cousin Judy Mitchell told The Intercept. 'We’ve got to do something to stop this execution.,'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-strangled-death-cop-fianc.html#ixzz3KhkTealM

---

Justices reject Texas rape-murder appeal
Created: 11/03/2014 10:21 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a Texas death row inmate who was convicted of raping and killing a 19-year-old woman 18 years ago.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3605742.shtml#.VH0m8MnYfKc

---

http://www.keyetv.com/news/features...dstacey-stites-murder-case.shtml#.VH0l48nYfKc

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Archive/search?Search=Jimmy Fennell

 

[bessie]

More MSM and a website:

http://www.elgincourier.com/news/article_5f21244a-77aa-11e3-ad3a-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/court-denies-rodney-reed-appeal/ncmKT/

Stacey Lee Stite's Memorial Website

 

[pomegranate]

Here is an article about the outcome of the Nov 25 hearing. The request for new DNA testing has been denied. Rodney Reed's execution has been reset to March 5, 2015.

http://kxan.com/2014/11/25/request-for-dna-testing-denied-in-rodney-reed-case/

 

[time]

Defense attorneys contended that the testing of additional items — including several pieces of clothing found on or near rape and murder victim Stacy Stites, as well as two Busch Beer cans and a blue condom found near the scene of the crime — could have ultimately provided evidence supporting Reed’s claims to innocence.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/...hearing-set-for-death-row-inmate-rodne/njFkj/

I really have a problem when they deny DNA testing in these cases.