Rodney Reed; Death Row Texas; (Scheduled for execution November 20): New York Times wades in with a story on new evidence casting doubt on his guilt (Reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs) - and explores the role that public attention is playing in encouraging new witnesses to come forward..."The case of a man who is set to be put to death in Texas later this month has drawn high-profile attention from celebrities, after several people came forward with new testimony throwing his conviction into doubt. Rodney Reed, 51, is scheduled for execution on Nov. 20 for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Tex. In recent weeks, celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West and Meek Mill have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene. Texas executes far more people than any other state, including seven so far this year."
WORDS TO HEED: FROM OUR POST ON KEVIN COOPER'S APPLICATION FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING (CALIFORNIA):
"Blogger/extraordinaire Jeff Gamso's blunt, unequivocal, unforgettable
message to the powers that be in California: "JUST TEST THE FUCKING
DNA." (Oh yes, Gamso raises, as he does in many of his posts, an
important philosophical question: This post is headed: "What is truth,
said jesting Pilate.")..."So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they
scared of? Don't we want the truth?"
QUOTE ONE OF THE DAY: "Dr.
Phil McGraw, the television host, has been posting frequently about the
case online. On his show, he said that Mr. Reed had not been able to
present all of the evidence in the case to the courts. “I don’t think it’s a question of whether he’s guilty or not guilty,” Mr. McGraw said, according to The Austin American-Statesman.
“I think the question is whether he had a full trial, with a full
airing of all the evidence. I think the answer to that question, in my
opinion, is not just no, but hell, no.”
QUOTE TWO OF THE DAY: "Mr.
Reed’s team of lawyers has been digging hard for new evidence and
witnesses, but Mr.ryce) Benjet said the rise in public attention might also
have encouraged some to speak up. “Basically,
every case I’ve worked on, the more attention that comes to the case,
the more people hear about it and come forward,” he said. “It just takes
a lot of time for innocence cases to get proven."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Mr.
Reed’s lawyers have argued previously that the state’s forensic
investigators made critical errors regarding the timeline of the
killing, which some investigators later admitted in affidavits. The
lawyers have also pushed for the murder weapon — Ms. Stites’ belt — to
be tested for DNA evidence, which has yet to happen. The
lawyers work for the Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate people
who might have been wrongly convicted. Along with their forensic
argument, they have objected to a Texas judge scheduling Mr. Reed’s
execution before his federal appeals had been exhausted. Most
recently, at least three people have come forward with new testimony
regarding Ms. Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. Mr. Fennell is a former
police officer who was released from prison in 2018; he pleaded guilty
in 2008 to kidnapping a woman he had encountered while on duty. The
woman said he had also raped her. Arthur J. Snow Jr., who served time in
prison with Mr. Fennell, said last month in a sworn affidavit
that he heard Mr. Fennell confess to the murder of Ms. Stites."
STORY: "Rodney Reed Is Scheduled for Execution. New Evidence Casts Doubt on His Guilt," by reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, published by The New York Times on November 6, 2019.
SUB-HEADING: "Celebrities including Kim Kardashian West have taken up the cause of the Texas death row inmate."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Texas is scheduled to execute Rodney Reed on Nov. 20. He was convicted of killing a woman in 1996."
GIST: "The
case of a man who is set to be put to death in Texas later this month
has drawn high-profile attention from celebrities, after several people
came forward with new testimony throwing his conviction into doubt. Rodney Reed, 51, is scheduled for execution
on Nov. 20 for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Tex. In
recent weeks, celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West and
Meek Mill have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene. Texas executes
far more people than any other state, including seven so far this year. Ms. Stites, who was 19, was strangled, and her body was dumped alongside a rural road. Prosecutors said she had also been raped, and
Mr. Reed was arrested based mostly on DNA tests. He said he and Ms.
Stites had been having an affair in secret, which would explain his DNA being recovered from her body. His lawyers say witnesses have since corroborated the existence of the affair. Here’s what else you need to know about the case.
What’s the new evidence?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers have argued previously that the state’s forensic
investigators made critical errors regarding the timeline of the
killing, which some investigators later admitted in affidavits. The
lawyers have also pushed for the murder weapon — Ms. Stites’ belt — to
be tested for DNA evidence, which has yet to happen.
Continue reading the maThe
lawyers work for the Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate people
who might have been wrongly convicted. Along with their forensic
argument, they have objected to a Texas judge scheduling Mr. Reed’s execution before his federal appeals had been exhausted. Most
recently, at least three people have come forward with new testimony
regarding Ms. Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. Mr. Fennell is a former
police officer who was released from prison in 2018; he pleaded guilty in 2008 to kidnapping a woman he had encountered while on duty. The woman said he had also raped her. Arthur J. Snow Jr., who served time in prison with Mr. Fennell, said last month in a sworn affidavit
that he heard Mr. Fennell confess to the murder of Ms. Stites. Mr.
Snow, a former member of a white-only prison gang called the Aryan
Brotherhood, said Mr. Fennell, who is white, had bragged about killing
his fiancée because she had cheated on him with a black man. Mr. Reed is
black. Mr. Snow said he believed that
Mr. Fennell had bragged about killing Ms. Stites to try to impress him
and other members of the Aryan Brotherhood, whom Mr. Fennell had sought
out for protection. Mr. Snow said he came forward after reading about
the Reed case in a newspaper.
Other
witnesses have also described statements by Mr. Fennell that the
Innocence Project lawyers say warrant further investigation. A former
insurance sales representative said he had heard Mr. Fennell say he
would kill Ms. Stites if he caught her “messing around.” Charles W.
Fletcher, a former friend of the couple, said Mr. Fennell had complained
that Ms. Stites was cheating on him. And Jim Clampit, a former
sheriff’s deputy, said that at Ms. Stites’ funeral, Mr. Fennell looked
at her body and said, “You got what you deserved.”
Continue reading the main stMr.
Fennell’s lawyer, Robert M. Phillips, said that Mr. Fennell denies
killing Ms. Stites, and that the Innocence Project was merely recycling
claims that were made at trial. It was inconceivable, he said, that the
people now coming forward would have stayed silent for so long if their
accounts were true. Mr. Phillips said
Mr. Fennell had converted to Christianity, had found a job and a
girlfriend, and was “living a law-abiding life.” He said he did not know
whether Mr. Fennell supports the death penalty for Mr. Reed.
Could the governor stop the execution?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers and his supporters have pleaded with Governor Abbott to
delay the execution by 30 days and to order the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles to investigate the possibility of commuting Mr. Reed’s
sentence. Mr. Abbott’s office did not
respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The governor has stopped
just one execution in nearly five years in office, while allowing 47 to
go forward, according to The Texas Tribune. The one case came in February 2018, when the governor granted clemency to Thomas Whitaker,
who had been sentenced to death for killing his brother and mother. Mr.
Whitaker’s father, a survivor of the murders, had asked the governor to
spare his son’s life, and Mr. Whitaker had agreed to waive his right to
seek parole, meaning he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Mr.
Abbott commuted Mr. Whitaker's sentence after a unanimous
recommendation from the state parole board, the same panel that Mr.
Reed’s lawyers want to investigate his sentence. Bryce Benjet, one of Mr. Reed’s lawyers, said the Whitaker case gave him and his client hope. “Anybody
will tell you that the death penalty is a very serious matter in
Texas,” Mr. Benjet said. “But I think the Whitaker case does show that
where there is compelling evidence, people are willing to take action.”
Ms. Kardashian West, who has lobbied President Trump on criminal justice issues and persuaded him to release a woman serving life in prison, has urged Mr. Abbott to keep the state from killing Mr. Reed. “How
can you execute a man when, since his trial, substantial evidence that
would exonerate Rodney Reed has come forward and even implicates the
other person of interest,” Ms. Kardashian West wrote on Twitter. Dr.
Phil McGraw, the television host, has been posting frequently about the
case online. On his show, he said that Mr. Reed had not been able to
present all of the evidence in the case to the courts. “I don’t think it’s a question of whether he’s guilty or not guilty,” Mr. McGraw said, according to The Austin American-Statesman.
“I think the question is whether he had a full trial, with a full
airing of all the evidence. I think the answer to that question, in my
opinion, is not just no, but hell, no.” Other
celebrities who have drawn attention to Mr. Reed’s case include Pusha
T, the rapper; Eric Andre, the comedian; and Cyntoia Brown, who was released from prison this year after serving time for killing a man who had picked her up when she was a victim of teenage sex trafficking. Mr.
Reed’s team of lawyers has been digging hard for new evidence and
witnesses, but Mr. Benjet said the rise in public attention might also
have encouraged some to speak up. “Basically,
every case I’ve worked on, the more attention that comes to the case,
the more people hear about it and come forward,” he said. “It just takes
a lot of time for innocence cases to get proven.""
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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
The
case of a man who is set to be put to death in Texas later this month
has drawn high-profile attention from celebrities, after several people
came forward with new testimony throwing his conviction into doubt.
Rodney Reed, 51, is scheduled for execution
on Nov. 20 for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Tex. In
recent weeks, celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West and
Meek Mill have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene. Texas executes
far more people than any other state, including seven so far this year.
Ms. Stites, who was 19, was strangled,
and her body was dumped alongside a rural road. Prosecutors said she
had also been raped, and
Mr. Reed was arrested based mostly on DNA tests. He said he and Ms.
Stites had been having an affair in secret, which would explain his DNA
being recovered from her body. His lawyers say witnesses have since
corroborated the existence of the affair.
Here’s what else you need to know about the case.
What’s the new evidence?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers have argued previously that the state’s forensic
investigators made critical errors regarding the timeline of the
killing, which some investigators later admitted in affidavits. The
lawyers have also pushed for the murder weapon — Ms. Stites’ belt — to
be tested for DNA evidence, which has yet to happen.
The
lawyers work for the Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate people
who might have been wrongly convicted. Along with their forensic
argument, they have objected to a Texas judge scheduling Mr. Reed’s execution before his federal appeals had been exhausted.
Most
recently, at least three people have come forward with new testimony
regarding Ms. Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. Mr. Fennell is a former
police officer who was released from prison in 2018; he pleaded guilty in 2008 to kidnapping a woman he had encountered while on duty. The woman said he had also raped her.
Arthur J. Snow Jr., who served time in prison with Mr. Fennell, said last month in a sworn affidavit
that he heard Mr. Fennell confess to the murder of Ms. Stites. Mr.
Snow, a former member of a white-only prison gang called the Aryan
Brotherhood, said Mr. Fennell, who is white, had bragged about killing
his fiancée because she had cheated on him with a black man. Mr. Reed is
black.
Mr. Snow said he believed that
Mr. Fennell had bragged about killing Ms. Stites to try to impress him
and other members of the Aryan Brotherhood, whom Mr. Fennell had sought
out for protection. Mr. Snow said he came forward after reading about
the Reed case in a newspaper.
Other
witnesses have also described statements by Mr. Fennell that the
Innocence Project lawyers say warrant further investigation. A former
insurance sales representative said he had heard Mr. Fennell say he
would kill Ms. Stites if he caught her “messing around.” Charles W.
Fletcher, a former friend of the couple, said Mr. Fennell had complained
that Ms. Stites was cheating on him. And Jim Clampit, a former
sheriff’s deputy, said that at Ms. Stites’ funeral, Mr. Fennell looked
at her body and said, “You got what you deserved.”
Mr.
Fennell’s lawyer, Robert M. Phillips, said that Mr. Fennell denies
killing Ms. Stites, and that the Innocence Project was merely recycling
claims that were made at trial. It was inconceivable, he said, that the
people now coming forward would have stayed silent for so long if their
accounts were true.
Mr. Phillips said
Mr. Fennell had converted to Christianity, had found a job and a
girlfriend, and was “living a law-abiding life.” He said he did not know
whether Mr. Fennell supports the death penalty for Mr. Reed.
Could the governor stop the execution?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers and his supporters have pleaded with Governor Abbott to
delay the execution by 30 days and to order the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles to investigate the possibility of commuting Mr. Reed’s
sentence.
Mr. Abbott’s office did not
respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The governor has stopped
just one execution in nearly five years in office, while allowing 47 to
go forward, according to The Texas Tribune.
The one case came in February 2018, when the governor granted clemency to Thomas Whitaker,
who had been sentenced to death for killing his brother and mother. Mr.
Whitaker’s father, a survivor of the murders, had asked the governor to
spare his son’s life, and Mr. Whitaker had agreed to waive his right to
seek parole, meaning he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Mr.
Abbott commuted Mr. Whitaker's sentence after a unanimous
recommendation from the state parole board, the same panel that Mr.
Reed’s lawyers want to investigate his sentence. Bryce Benjet, one of
Mr. Reed’s lawyers, said the Whitaker case gave him and his client hope.
“Anybody
will tell you that the death penalty is a very serious matter in
Texas,” Mr. Benjet said. “But I think the Whitaker case does show that
where there is compelling evidence, people are willing to take action.”
Ms. Kardashian West, who has lobbied President Trump on criminal justice issues and persuaded him to release a woman serving life in prison, has urged Mr. Abbott to keep the state from killing Mr. Reed.
“How
can you execute a man when, since his trial, substantial evidence that
would exonerate Rodney Reed has come forward and even implicates the
other person of interest,” Ms. Kardashian West wrote on Twitter.
Dr.
Phil McGraw, the television host, has been posting frequently about the
case online. On his show, he said that Mr. Reed had not been able to
present all of the evidence in the case to the courts.
“I don’t think it’s a question of whether he’s guilty or not guilty,” Mr. McGraw said, according to The Austin American-Statesman.
“I think the question is whether he had a full trial, with a full
airing of all the evidence. I think the answer to that question, in my
opinion, is not just no, but hell, no.”
Other
celebrities who have drawn attention to Mr. Reed’s case include Pusha
T, the rapper; Eric Andre, the comedian; and Cyntoia Brown, who was released from prison this year after serving time for killing a man who had picked her up when she was a victim of teenage sex trafficking.
Mr.
Reed’s team of lawyers has been digging hard for new evidence and
witnesses, but Mr. Benjet said the rise in public attention might also
have encouraged some to speak up.
“Basically,
every case I’ve worked on, the more attention that comes to the case,
the more people hear about it and come forward,” he said. “It just takes
a lot of time for innocence cases to get proven.”
The
case of a man who is set to be put to death in Texas later this month
has drawn high-profile attention from celebrities, after several people
came forward with new testimony throwing his conviction into doubt.
Rodney Reed, 51, is scheduled for execution
on Nov. 20 for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Tex. In
recent weeks, celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West and
Meek Mill have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene. Texas executes
far more people than any other state, including seven so far this year.
Ms. Stites, who was 19, was strangled,
and her body was dumped alongside a rural road. Prosecutors said she
had also been raped, and
Mr. Reed was arrested based mostly on DNA tests. He said he and Ms.
Stites had been having an affair in secret, which would explain his DNA
being recovered from her body. His lawyers say witnesses have since
corroborated the existence of the affair.
Here’s what else you need to know about the case.
What’s the new evidence?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers have argued previously that the state’s forensic
investigators made critical errors regarding the timeline of the
killing, which some investigators later admitted in affidavits. The
lawyers have also pushed for the murder weapon — Ms. Stites’ belt — to
be tested for DNA evidence, which has yet to happen.
The
lawyers work for the Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate people
who might have been wrongly convicted. Along with their forensic
argument, they have objected to a Texas judge scheduling Mr. Reed’s execution before his federal appeals had been exhausted.
Most
recently, at least three people have come forward with new testimony
regarding Ms. Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. Mr. Fennell is a former
police officer who was released from prison in 2018; he pleaded guilty in 2008 to kidnapping a woman he had encountered while on duty. The woman said he had also raped her.
Arthur J. Snow Jr., who served time in prison with Mr. Fennell, said last month in a sworn affidavit
that he heard Mr. Fennell confess to the murder of Ms. Stites. Mr.
Snow, a former member of a white-only prison gang called the Aryan
Brotherhood, said Mr. Fennell, who is white, had bragged about killing
his fiancée because she had cheated on him with a black man. Mr. Reed is
black.
Mr. Snow said he believed that
Mr. Fennell had bragged about killing Ms. Stites to try to impress him
and other members of the Aryan Brotherhood, whom Mr. Fennell had sought
out for protection. Mr. Snow said he came forward after reading about
the Reed case in a newspaper.
Other
witnesses have also described statements by Mr. Fennell that the
Innocence Project lawyers say warrant further investigation. A former
insurance sales representative said he had heard Mr. Fennell say he
would kill Ms. Stites if he caught her “messing around.” Charles W.
Fletcher, a former friend of the couple, said Mr. Fennell had complained
that Ms. Stites was cheating on him. And Jim Clampit, a former
sheriff’s deputy, said that at Ms. Stites’ funeral, Mr. Fennell looked
at her body and said, “You got what you deserved.”
Mr.
Fennell’s lawyer, Robert M. Phillips, said that Mr. Fennell denies
killing Ms. Stites, and that the Innocence Project was merely recycling
claims that were made at trial. It was inconceivable, he said, that the
people now coming forward would have stayed silent for so long if their
accounts were true.
Mr. Phillips said
Mr. Fennell had converted to Christianity, had found a job and a
girlfriend, and was “living a law-abiding life.” He said he did not know
whether Mr. Fennell supports the death penalty for Mr. Reed.
Could the governor stop the execution?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers and his supporters have pleaded with Governor Abbott to
delay the execution by 30 days and to order the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles to investigate the possibility of commuting Mr. Reed’s
sentence.
Mr. Abbott’s office did not
respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The governor has stopped
just one execution in nearly five years in office, while allowing 47 to
go forward, according to The Texas Tribune.
The one case came in February 2018, when the governor granted clemency to Thomas Whitaker,
who had been sentenced to death for killing his brother and mother. Mr.
Whitaker’s father, a survivor of the murders, had asked the governor to
spare his son’s life, and Mr. Whitaker had agreed to waive his right to
seek parole, meaning he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Mr.
Abbott commuted Mr. Whitaker's sentence after a unanimous
recommendation from the state parole board, the same panel that Mr.
Reed’s lawyers want to investigate his sentence. Bryce Benjet, one of
Mr. Reed’s lawyers, said the Whitaker case gave him and his client hope.
“Anybody
will tell you that the death penalty is a very serious matter in
Texas,” Mr. Benjet said. “But I think the Whitaker case does show that
where there is compelling evidence, people are willing to take action.”
Ms. Kardashian West, who has lobbied President Trump on criminal justice issues and persuaded him to release a woman serving life in prison, has urged Mr. Abbott to keep the state from killing Mr. Reed.
“How
can you execute a man when, since his trial, substantial evidence that
would exonerate Rodney Reed has come forward and even implicates the
other person of interest,” Ms. Kardashian West wrote on Twitter.
Dr.
Phil McGraw, the television host, has been posting frequently about the
case online. On his show, he said that Mr. Reed had not been able to
present all of the evidence in the case to the courts.
“I don’t think it’s a question of whether he’s guilty or not guilty,” Mr. McGraw said, according to The Austin American-Statesman.
“I think the question is whether he had a full trial, with a full
airing of all the evidence. I think the answer to that question, in my
opinion, is not just no, but hell, no.”
Other
celebrities who have drawn attention to Mr. Reed’s case include Pusha
T, the rapper; Eric Andre, the comedian; and Cyntoia Brown, who was released from prison this year after serving time for killing a man who had picked her up when she was a victim of teenage sex trafficking.
Mr.
Reed’s team of lawyers has been digging hard for new evidence and
witnesses, but Mr. Benjet said the rise in public attention might also
have encouraged some to speak up.
“Basically,
every case I’ve worked on, the more attention that comes to the case,
the more people hear about it and come forward,” he said. “It just takes
a lot of time for innocence cases to get proven.”
The
case of a man who is set to be put to death in Texas later this month
has drawn high-profile attention from celebrities, after several people
came forward with new testimony throwing his conviction into doubt.
Rodney Reed, 51, is scheduled for execution
on Nov. 20 for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Tex. In
recent weeks, celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West and
Meek Mill have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene. Texas executes
far more people than any other state, including seven so far this year.
Ms. Stites, who was 19, was strangled,
and her body was dumped alongside a rural road. Prosecutors said she
had also been raped, and
Mr. Reed was arrested based mostly on DNA tests. He said he and Ms.
Stites had been having an affair in secret, which would explain his DNA
being recovered from her body. His lawyers say witnesses have since
corroborated the existence of the affair.
Here’s what else you need to know about the case.
What’s the new evidence?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers have argued previously that the state’s forensic
investigators made critical errors regarding the timeline of the
killing, which some investigators later admitted in affidavits. The
lawyers have also pushed for the murder weapon — Ms. Stites’ belt — to
be tested for DNA evidence, which has yet to happen.
The
lawyers work for the Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate people
who might have been wrongly convicted. Along with their forensic
argument, they have objected to a Texas judge scheduling Mr. Reed’s execution before his federal appeals had been exhausted.
Most
recently, at least three people have come forward with new testimony
regarding Ms. Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. Mr. Fennell is a former
police officer who was released from prison in 2018; he pleaded guilty in 2008 to kidnapping a woman he had encountered while on duty. The woman said he had also raped her.
Arthur J. Snow Jr., who served time in prison with Mr. Fennell, said last month in a sworn affidavit
that he heard Mr. Fennell confess to the murder of Ms. Stites. Mr.
Snow, a former member of a white-only prison gang called the Aryan
Brotherhood, said Mr. Fennell, who is white, had bragged about killing
his fiancée because she had cheated on him with a black man. Mr. Reed is
black.
Mr. Snow said he believed that
Mr. Fennell had bragged about killing Ms. Stites to try to impress him
and other members of the Aryan Brotherhood, whom Mr. Fennell had sought
out for protection. Mr. Snow said he came forward after reading about
the Reed case in a newspaper.
Other
witnesses have also described statements by Mr. Fennell that the
Innocence Project lawyers say warrant further investigation. A former
insurance sales representative said he had heard Mr. Fennell say he
would kill Ms. Stites if he caught her “messing around.” Charles W.
Fletcher, a former friend of the couple, said Mr. Fennell had complained
that Ms. Stites was cheating on him. And Jim Clampit, a former
sheriff’s deputy, said that at Ms. Stites’ funeral, Mr. Fennell looked
at her body and said, “You got what you deserved.”
Mr.
Fennell’s lawyer, Robert M. Phillips, said that Mr. Fennell denies
killing Ms. Stites, and that the Innocence Project was merely recycling
claims that were made at trial. It was inconceivable, he said, that the
people now coming forward would have stayed silent for so long if their
accounts were true.
Mr. Phillips said
Mr. Fennell had converted to Christianity, had found a job and a
girlfriend, and was “living a law-abiding life.” He said he did not know
whether Mr. Fennell supports the death penalty for Mr. Reed.
Could the governor stop the execution?
Mr.
Reed’s lawyers and his supporters have pleaded with Governor Abbott to
delay the execution by 30 days and to order the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles to investigate the possibility of commuting Mr. Reed’s
sentence.
Mr. Abbott’s office did not
respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The governor has stopped
just one execution in nearly five years in office, while allowing 47 to
go forward, according to The Texas Tribune.
The one case came in February 2018, when the governor granted clemency to Thomas Whitaker,
who had been sentenced to death for killing his brother and mother. Mr.
Whitaker’s father, a survivor of the murders, had asked the governor to
spare his son’s life, and Mr. Whitaker had agreed to waive his right to
seek parole, meaning he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Mr.
Abbott commuted Mr. Whitaker's sentence after a unanimous
recommendation from the state parole board, the same panel that Mr.
Reed’s lawyers want to investigate his sentence. Bryce Benjet, one of
Mr. Reed’s lawyers, said the Whitaker case gave him and his client hope.
“Anybody
will tell you that the death penalty is a very serious matter in
Texas,” Mr. Benjet said. “But I think the Whitaker case does show that
where there is compelling evidence, people are willing to take action.”
Ms. Kardashian West, who has lobbied President Trump on criminal justice issues and persuaded him to release a woman serving life in prison, has urged Mr. Abbott to keep the state from killing Mr. Reed.
“How
can you execute a man when, since his trial, substantial evidence that
would exonerate Rodney Reed has come forward and even implicates the
other person of interest,” Ms. Kardashian West wrote on Twitter.
Dr.
Phil McGraw, the television host, has been posting frequently about the
case online. On his show, he said that Mr. Reed had not been able to
present all of the evidence in the case to the courts.
“I don’t think it’s a question of whether he’s guilty or not guilty,” Mr. McGraw said, according to The Austin American-Statesman.
“I think the question is whether he had a full trial, with a full
airing of all the evidence. I think the answer to that question, in my
opinion, is not just no, but hell, no.”
Other
celebrities who have drawn attention to Mr. Reed’s case include Pusha
T, the rapper; Eric Andre, the comedian; and Cyntoia Brown, who was released from prison this year after serving time for killing a man who had picked her up when she was a victim of teenage sex trafficking.
Mr.
Reed’s team of lawyers has been digging hard for new evidence and
witnesses, but Mr. Benjet said the rise in public attention might also
have encouraged some to speak up.
“Basically,
every case I’ve worked on, the more attention that comes to the case,
the more people hear about it and come forward,” he said. “It just takes
a lot of time for innocence cases to get proven.”
