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John —
Rodney Reed has been on death row in Texas for more than 23 years and has narrowly avoided three executions, and through it all, he’s always maintained his innocence. Starting today, he has a chance to present new evidence that further supports his innocence at a hearing.
Rodney Reed with his brother Rodrick, nephew Rodrick Jr., and mother Sandra Reed at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, West Livingston, Texas in 2019. Photo courtesy of the Reed Justice Initiative.
Rodney, a Black man, was convicted of the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a white woman, by an all-white jury. The prime suspect in the case was her fiancé, local police officer Jimmy Fennell, but the police turned their attention to Rodney when DNA recovered from Stacey matched him. One of Rodney’s key trial defense points was that he and Stacey Stites knew each other and were engaged in a consensual relationship, but the prosecution claimed there was no evidence of such a relationship.
Rodney’s hearing today is a chance to finally prove his innocence after his decades-long fight for justice. Take a moment right now to add your name to get breaking news updates about Rodney’s case or text FREERODNEY to 52886.
Under the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brady v. Maryland (1963), prosecutors are required to turn over all evidence that might exonerate the accused to defense counsel. During Rodney’s trial, the lead prosecutor repeatedly assured jurors that investigators had looked high and low for evidence of Rodney and Stacey’s relationship, but found none.
However, summaries of interviews with witnesses show that the prosecution was aware that Rodney and Stacey knew each other. The prosecution had these summaries in their files at the time of trial, but did not turn them over to the defense team as is required by the Constitution. Multiple witnesses told prosecutors that they saw Rodney and Stacey together “giggling and flirting” and that they’d heard rumors that they were seeing each other.
Recently, more witnesses have come forward with evidence that points to Jimmy Fennell as the person who killed Stacey. Jimmy was incarcerated for 10 years on unrelated charges, and one of the people who he was incarcerated with said Jimmy confided in him during their incarceration that he had killed his fiancé.
You can stay up to date on everything about Rodney’s case by adding your name here or text FREERODNEY to 52886.
We’re not going to stop fighting for Rodney until he’s free.
Thank you for your support,
— The Innocence Project Team
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