Thursday, May 12, 2022

Rodney Reed: Death Row: Texas: In light of the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his case this fall, 'Newsweek' (Reporter Ed Browne) asks the question of the day: How could Rodney Reed be exonerated with DNA?..."A statement from Reed's legal team said, according to the Innocence Project, that Reed, a Black man, was convicted by an all-white Texas jury and that "Texas and the Texas courts have refused to allow DNA testing of key crime-scene evidence, including the ligature handled by the perpetrator in the commission of the crime." Russell Covey is a law professor at Georgia State University who specializes in wrongful convictions and is co-editor of The Wrongful Convictions Reader research collection. He told Newsweek there have been "tremendous advances" in DNA technology since the early 2000s to the extent that even a small number of skin cells left behind on objects at the scene of the crime can be considered. In addition, techniques can now extract useful information from samples that might have been considered too low in quality two decades ago. "All evidence has to be understood in context, and no evidence is irrefutable," Covey said. "But DNA evidence has proven to be among the most powerful types of evidence we have, and practically speaking, it is often dispositive of the question of guilt or innocence. "If the biological samples are properly stored, there is virtually no 'expiration date' for the evidence. DNA evidence has been successfully tested decades after crimes occurred. "There is already a substantial amount of evidence that indicates that Mr. Reed might be innocent of the murder of Ms. Stites. Certainly, we know that the prosecutor's theory at trial was based on flawed and inaccurate medical evidence."

BACKGROUND: "It can be difficult to parse why a particular case goes viral, but Reed’s story is undoubtedly dramatic. Reed, who is Black, has long maintained his innocence in the 1996 rape and murder of Stites, a White woman. But Reed struggled to get courts to consider his claims, even though new witnesses said he and Stites had been in a consensual relationship — to the displeasure of her fiancé, a White police officer named Jimmy Fennell. Fennell himself went to prison for an unrelated sexual crime, and right before Reed’s execution was called off in 2019, the Innocence Project unveiled an affidavit from another incarcerated person, who said Fennell confessed to Stites’s murder and used a racial slur against Reed. Fennell has repeatedly denied involvement in Stites’s death."
Keri Blakinger; Maurice Chammah: The Marshall Project:
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STORY: "How Death Row inmate Rodney Reed could be exonerated with DNA," by Reporter Ed Browne, published by Newsweek, on April 27, 2022.


GIST: The U.S. Supreme Court may consider DNA testing in a long-standing murder case for which death row inmate Rodney Reed was convicted more than two decades ago.


Reed has long maintained his innocence over the murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old who was raped and murdered as she made her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, Texas, in 1996.


Reed claims that Stites' fiancé, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the one who killed her due to Stites allegedly having an affair with Reed. Fennell has denied Reed's allegations. The case is further complicated by previous charges against both men, per The Texas Tribune.


Reed had previously sought DNA testing of crime scene evidence related to Stites' murder—such as a belt that prosecutors said was used to strangle her—but had not been successful. Prosecutors have argued that the DNA could have since been contaminated, according to The Texas Tribune.


Now, the Supreme Court has agreed to decide when prisoners can request post-conviction DNA testing of crime scene evidence.


A statement from Reed's legal team said, according to the Innocence Project, that Reed, a Black man, was convicted by an all-white Texas jury and that "Texas and the Texas courts have refused to allow DNA testing of key crime-scene evidence, including the ligature handled by the perpetrator in the commission of the crime."


Russell Covey is a law professor at Georgia State University who specializes in wrongful convictions and is co-editor of The Wrongful Convictions Reader research collection. He told Newsweek there have been "tremendous advances" in DNA technology since the early 2000s to the extent that even a small number of skin cells left behind on objects at the scene of the crime can be considered.


In addition, techniques can now extract useful information from samples that might have been considered too low in quality two decades ago.


"All evidence has to be understood in context, and no evidence is irrefutable," Covey said. "But DNA evidence has proven to be among the most powerful types of evidence we have, and practically speaking, it is often dispositive of the question of guilt or innocence.


"If the biological samples are properly stored, there is virtually no 'expiration date' for the evidence. DNA evidence has been successfully tested decades after crimes occurred.


"There is already a substantial amount of evidence that indicates that Mr. Reed might be innocent of the murder of Ms. Stites. Certainly, we know that the prosecutor's theory at trial was based on flawed and inaccurate medical evidence.


"The evidence in the case was that Ms. Stites was strangled with her own belt. That belt has never been tested for DNA, even though the killer's DNA would likely be there. If another suspect's DNA was recovered from the belt, or from other items that were found at the crime scene, that evidence would be extremely helpful in proving that Mr. Reed is actually innocent of the crime."


Reed currently has no execution date after his impending execution was postponed in 2019 after calls for further review of his conviction, The Texas Tribute reported. The justices are due to take up the case again in the fall, according to the Associated Press."


The entire story can be read at:


https://www.newsweek.com/rodney-reed-supreme-court-dna-stacey-stites-murder-jimmy-fennell-case-1701427


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;


SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:



FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;


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