STORY: "TV interview could help death row inmate," by CNN Wire, published by WGNO ABC posted by CNN on September 12, 2017.
GIST: "Rodney Reed has spent nearly two decades on Texas’ death row for the
1996 murder of Stacey Stites, which he insists he didn’t commit. Now, he
may get a chance at a new trial. A Texas court has allowed Reed and his attorneys to present their
case before a judge next month. They plan to argue that a videotaped
interview raises questions about the whereabouts of Stites’ then-fiancé,
Jimmy Fennell, the night before her murder. Police identified Fennell — a former police officer who is currently
in prison for rape — as a suspect during their investigation into
Stites’ killing, but he was never charged. “If the facts that are alleged are proven, and in this case it’s
essentially on video, then Mr. Reed is entitled to a new trial,” said
Bryce Benjet, an Innocence Project attorney who is representing Reed. Reed and his attorneys have argued that forensic evidence linking
Reed to the crime was the product of a hidden relationship between Reed
and Stites. During the investigation of the murder, Reed told police he
had never met Stites, a statement he now says he made out of fear he’d
be treated unfairly because Stites was engaged to a police officer. Fennell testified during Reed’s 1998 trial that he and Stites were
home together at the apartment they shared the night of April 22, 1996.
Fennell testified that he stayed up to watch TV when Stites went to
sleep around 9 p.m. When Stites left the next morning for her 3:30 a.m.
shift, Fennell said he was asleep. But in an interview with “Death Row Stories” videotaped last year,
Fennell’s friend and Bastrop County Sheriff’s investigator Curtis Davis
offered a different story. Davis said that Fennell told him that he had been out drinking with
some fellow officers the night of the 22nd and came home late, likely
around 10 or 11 p.m. after Stites had gone to bed. According to Davis, Fennell told him these details on April 23, 1996,
as they waited for word on Stites’ whereabouts. Police were searching
for Stites after she failed to show up for work and the truck she had
been driving had been discovered around 5 a.m. Her body was found later
that day and a coroner determined she had been raped and strangled. A full transcript of Davis’ interview with “Death Row Stories” is below: “The statements that [Davis] made in the interview are the first I’ve
ever heard of this account, and they’re sort of night and day from what
Jimmy Fennell said had taken place,” Benjet told CNN. After Stites’ murder, Fennell moved to Georgetown, Texas, where he
joined the local police force. But he eventually landed behind bars In 2008, Fennell pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and improper
sexual activity with a person in custody, after a woman he detained
when responding to a domestic dispute call accused him of rape. Fennell was sentenced to 10 years and is scheduled to be released in September 2018. Benjet said that the inconsistencies around Fennell’s whereabouts in
the hours surrounding Stites’ murder must be considered within the
context of what he called “substantial forensic evidence showing that
the victim was killed hours before the state believed the crime took
place and that the body had been moved, all of which is inconsistent
with Mr. Reed’s guilt.” Reed’s legal team plans to submit that forensic evidence, along with
the videotaped interview, at the writ of habeas corpus hearing scheduled
to begin on October 10 in Bastrop County District Court. It could be
the first step toward a new trial for Reed. It’s not the first time that questions have been raised around Reed’s
1998 murder conviction: just days before he was scheduled to die, a
court stayed his execution in 2015 because of new witness testimony and
forensic analysis. But it wasn’t enough to earn him a new trial. Reed’s execution date is stayed indefinitely pending the court’s ruling on the evidence."
The entire story can be found at:
The entire story can be found at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
