The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied a motion by death-row sitter Rodney Reed to remove the judge recently assigned to his two-decades-old murder case.
Reed’s Nov. 20 execution date was blocked last month and his case put back up for review in Bastrop County district court where new witnesses and new evidence will be presented. These facts could challenge his conviction.
The 51-year-old Bastrop resident had been on death row for more than two decades, always maintaining his innocence in the case of the brutal murder and rape of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in 1996.
Reed alleged the two were having a secret affair at that time, weeks before Stites was to marry police officer Jimmy Fennell.
In the appeal, Reed’s defense team was requesting that Bastrop County’s judge, Carson Campbell, preside over the case, because the current judge, Doug Shaver, had expressed the wish to retire. According to KVUE, Shaver had also presided over the case for one day in 2014 due to a conflict of interest with the judge at the time, and later was the one to sign Reed’s death sentence on July 23.
But the appeals court on Dec. 11 found no reason for granting the request, which was filed on Nov. 22. “This is to advise that the applicant’s suggestion for reconsideration has been denied without written order,” the court ruling read.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Spectrum Local News, Stites’ elder sister, Debra Oliver, said she is not in favor of Reed’s recent stay of execution. Oliver does not believe in Reed’s innocence.
“At no point [do] we want to deny him (Reed) the full extent of the justice system. However, I don’t put a lot of faith in people who come out two decades later and have some memories,” she said of the new witnesses. “I always wonder, where were those people when there was $50,000 worth in rewards and if they had information they could have come forward.”
Several new witnesses have testified that Stites was living in fear of her fiancé who was abusive towards her, Reed’s lawyers say. The testimonies were filed with the court just days before the scheduled execution.
A Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted death row inmate Rodney Reed indefinite reprieve from execution after he and his family gained the support of the Innocence Project, a rare confluence of lawyers, activists, politicians, and celebrities like Kim Kardashian West and Rihanna.
The execution was suspended on Nov. 15 after it was determined that evidence had been withheld during his trial, with new witnesses testifying in favor of Reed and bringing new information to light involving Fennell.
The court will now have 120 days to examine the new evidence.
