An appeal hearing for death row inmate Rodney Reed has been rescheduled once again for May after initially being moved from September to February.
Reed, who was convicted of capital murder in 1998 for the strangulation death of Stacey Stites in Bastrop County two years earlier, has now been scheduled for an appeal hearing on May 17 in the 21st District Court in Bastrop County, according to court records. Reed has maintained his innocence and is seeking to overturn his conviction.
In a phone interview, Rodney Reed’s brother Rodrick said that according to Reed’s legal team, this second rescheduling of an evidentiary hearing is due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, have recently spiked statewide and nationwide.