RELEASE: "Rodney Reed's first few days back in court," published by The Innocence Project on July 23, 2021.
GIST: "Rodney Reed has been on death row in Texas for 23 years for a crime he’s always said he didn’t commit — the murder of Stacey Stites, a woman whom he was secretly seeing at the time of her death.
In 1998, Rodney, a Black man, was convicted of murdering Stacey, a white woman, by an all-white jury. Though the prime suspect in the case initially was her fiancé, local police officer Jimmy Fennell, police shifted all of their attention to Rodney after DNA recovered from Stacey matched him.
This week, Rodney Reed has been back in court in Texas trying to prove his innocence.
At the time of his original trial, Rodney said that he and Stacey were having a consensual relationship, which explains the presence of his DNA. But they had to hide their relationship because Stacey was engaged and Rodney is Black, while Stacey was white. The prosecution claimed there was no evidence of their connection to one another.
This week, Innocence Project lawyers gave opening statements and presented witnesses, who testified to seeing Rodney and Stacey together and that they did have a relationship. Multiple witnesses also testified that Jimmy Fennell knew about their affair, and that he had used racial slurs when referring to Rodney. One witness said Jimmy told him that he would kill Stacey if he ever found out she was cheating on him with a Black man.
Dr. Andrew Baker, a medical examiner, also took the stand and gave crucial testimony saying that the State presented false evidence about Stacey’s death at the original trial, testimony that served to exclude Jimmy as the person who killed her.
All of this further supports Rodney’s innocence. His hearing will continue next week, and we’re not going to stop fighting until he gets the justice he deserves.
The entire release can be read at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGkZZknWBtZSCKvZGJPNlWsVzlb
