Rodney Reed
(pictured) presented four days of testimony in a
Bastrop County courthouse in an attempt to establish his innocence of the murder of Stacy Stites, as activists, religious leaders, and members of Reed’s family rallied in support of his case.
The hearing, which is expected to take two weeks, began on July 19, 2021, with Reed’s case for innocence. His lawyers presented evidence that Reed, who is Black, was having an affair with Stites, who is white; that Stites was actually murdered by her abusive fiancé, Jimmy Fennell; and that Fennell, who at that time was a police officer in Giddings, Texas, had framed Reed for the murder. Numerous witnesses testified that testified that they had seen Stites together with Reed on prior occasions, heard Fennell threaten to kill her if she cheated on him, and heard Fennell admit to the killing. Two forensics experts testified that Stites died hours earlier than the prosecution had claimed, at a time that Fennell had said she was w
Jimmy Fennell says witnesses lied about Rodney Reed knowing Stacey Stites
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Stacey Stites was just 19 when she was killed in Bastrop, Texas.
• 33 min read
The 20/20 Event Special airs Friday at 9|8c on ABC
Rodney Reed sits on death row for murdering Stacey Stites. Her family believes the right man is in prison. Now, hear from Reed s family & new lawyers – the stunning 20/20 airs Friday at 9|8c on ABC.Carol Stites
Stacey Stites was weeks away from marrying her fiancé when she went missing.
Just 19 years old at the time, Stites didn’t show up for work one morning in 1996, and was found dead hours later. Investigators said she had been raped and strangled, then left on the side of the road.
so that part of our defense could not be presented to the jury. i was expecting people to come. i was expecting to be going home once they testified. they aren t seeking the death penalty, and we are not putting up witnesses, we re not putting on a defense? that s not right. my attorneys are getting billed to defense. i just kind of felt trapped. i was really upset. as for the assault victims that prosecutors presented during sentencing, rodney had only faced trial in one of those cases, and in that trial, he was acquitted. the complaining witness in the case where rodney was found not guilty, they brought her in to testify. that verdict was so intellectually and factually and ethically wrong. when i left the courtroom, i cried. rodney reed spent four years
rodney, and that she was worried about what her fiance, jimmy, was going to think about it. benjet turned his focus to jimmy fennell, stacey s former fiance, who was the original prime suspect in the case. fennell started dating another woman just three months after stacey s murder and his new girlfriend accused fennell of stalking and harassing her. she described jimmy fennell as extremely jealous, as possess of a and as virulently racist to the point where he would object to her going to an african-american to cut her hair. when benjet met rodney on death row, rodney said that fennell had discovered stacey s affair and one night confronted rodney and his cousin. a witness named chris aldridge, who was with rodney that night. we was on our way back home from getting my hair braided and
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