Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Bulletin: Rodney Reed; Death Row; Texas; Supporters anxiously await Court of Criminal Appeals decision. "Seventeen years after a guilty verdict was handed down, Rodney's surroundings haven't changed, but his family said the evidence has. "I've heard that science doesn't lie. You have, as I say, four pathologists stating that she couldn't have died when the state said she did," Sandra (his mother) said. MyFoxAustin;

A man convicted of murder in Bastrop County is sitting on death row and his family, friends and supporters are waiting to hear if he will be granted a new trial or exonerated by the Court of Criminal Appeals. The support to free Rodney Reed has been growing every year since he was put on death row. "I've gotten letters, I've gotten donations, I've gotten cards, as well as Rodney, and it's just been very overwhelmingly appreciated," said Rodney's mother Sandra Reed.
Seventeen years after a guilty verdict was handed down, Rodney's surroundings haven't changed, but his family said the evidence has. "I've heard that science doesn't lie. You have, as I say, four pathologists stating that she couldn't have died when the state said she did," Sandra said. Rodney was sentenced to die on March 5, 2015, for the 1996 death of Stacy Stites. Because of the new evidence, the Court of Criminal Appeals stayed his execution, sparing his life so they could examine the data presented. That was in February..........Rodney said he was romantically involved with Stites, whose body was found on the side of a road in Bastrop. Rodney, his lawyers, family and friends maintain he was wrongly convicted of the crime. They believe the real killer could have been Stites' fiancé Jimmy Fennel. In 2008, Fennel was sent to prison for sexually assaulting a woman while on duty as a Georgetown policeman. "The most likely suspect was her fiancé Jimmy Fennel and if they were to follow that information further we think they would uncover more evidence," said Lily Hughes with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty."
 http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/29580257/rodney-reed-supporters-waiting-for-courts-ruling-on-new-evidence