Treasure Thigpen
Staff Writer
Just days away from execution, 51-year-old Texas native, Rodney Reed’s life has been spared; at least for now, that is. Reed is an African-American male who has served over 23 years in prison.
Reed was sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in 1996. Reed has long since proclaimed his innocence, and new evidence may quite literally save his life.
Case files state that Stites was strangled and her body was dumped alongside a road, prosecutors also alleged that Stites had been raped. DNA collected from Stites’s body at the crime scene was matched to Reed.
On the basis of the DNA match alone, prosecutors alleged that Reed had hijacked Stites’s pickup truck while he was on foot and Stites drove to work. No other evidence tied Reed to the crime.
When Reed was initially interrogated by detectives, he claimed that he did not know Stites, he did however eventually confess to having a consensual sexual affair with Stites. Reed admitted that he was reluctant to speak of the affair primarily due to the scandalous nature.
Reed also claimed that he was afraid to acknowledge the affair because Stites was engaged to a white police officer by the name of Jimmy Fennell at the time.
Questions about whether prosecutors withheld evidence, as well as solicited false witness testimony at Reed’s trial are at the forefront of the pending investigations. In addition to new mounting evidence and witnesses that suggest that Reed is innocent, it may also lend to the fact that Fennell is a suspect.
Fennell whom testified at Reed’s trial, has since been convicted of a separate heinous crime. Fennell was released from prison in 2018 after he plead guilty to a 2008 to kidnapping.
The victim encountered Fennell while he was on duty and she also alleges that he raped her.
During October 2019, a man who spent time in jail with Fennell signed an affidavit saying Fennell had admitted in prison to killing his fiancée because she was having an affair with a black man.
Bryce Benjet, senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project, who has represented Reed for many years, offers a statement. “As we’ve investigated this case, evidence continues to mount that shows that Rodney didn’t commit the crime, and implicates Fennell,” said Benjet.
Reed’s pending execution has sparked much interest from politicians, as well as celebrities.
Among the celebrities who have spoken out about Reed’s case is Kim Kardashian West. West happened to be meeting with Rodney Reed, when he was informed he would not be executed.
Kardashian-West tweeted, “Today, I had the honor of meeting #RodneyReed in person and the privilege of sitting with him when he got the news that the highest court in Texas had issued a stay of execution and remanded the case back to the trial court for further consideration. So grateful for the commitment and passion of everyone who voiced their support, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for their recommendation to issue a 120-day reprieve, and the courts for issuing a stay!”
In the State of Texas, executions peaked in 2000, when 40 people were put to death. In 2018, the State put 13 people to death, accounting for more than half of the 25 U.S. executions last year.
Texas is responsible for 7 of the 17 executions nationwide to date in 2019. In the case of Rodney Reed however, Texas’s Court of Criminal Appeals issued an indefinite stay of execution, pending further court action on appeal.
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