have seen states changing their legal regime and we have seen a decline in executions. down 60%. what are the lessons here? broadly, from acase like rodney reed that s just one of the many cases that you ve handled. there is a serious risk of executing innocent people. whether you re for or against the death penalty, that is something no one can tolerate. there is other public policy reasons people can debate it. and also i know it is a favorite issue for you is that you don t want to have legal restrictions that prevent you from putting on evidence of innocence that we had with the an anti anti-death penalty. passed under clinton. thank you for being here. right now rodney reed is
someone innocent be killed. some i have had doubts about. what would that mean? it would be absolutely horrible. rodney reed is 47 years old and has spent his life on death row for a crime he says he county compete. just last week, the texas court of criminal appeals granted him a rare stay of execution. before that stay was granted, i travelled to the prison where reed spends his days as an inmate in livingstone, texas. good chris. nice meeting you. he was convicted in the rain and murder of a 19-year-old woman named stacy stites. initially, investigators questioned her fiance a local
doubt. it could have been stacey s fi fiance, a police officer that would know how to cover up a crime. she threw out two potential killers with the fiance being her main option. he takes the stand, right? yeah day two he is on the stand. do you find him credible? i thought he was believable. reed s legal team does not present witnesses to challenge the forensic evidence. they lay out a case that hinges on what reed says was a secret affair, but they re not able to produce anyone to reliably corroborate that account. the defense said they could prove there was a secret sexual affair, but no witnesses ever testified directly that they knew about such an affair.
punishment phase. the state can offer evidence of prior bad acts regardless of whether the person in question has been previously charged with or convicted of the crime or act. five women take the stand against reed each alleged he sexually assaulted them. after four hours of deliberation by the jury he is sentenced to death. reed is moved to livington, texas death row. almost a decade later, a new development. stites fiance is accused of kidnapping a woman, driving her to an area and rapeing her. when you heard about his plea years later, what went through
person. the jury finds rodney reed guilty with two counts of capital murder. the guilty verdict is welcome news for stites family, but they are not celebrating. a tragedy that just affected so many family members and friends and it is a very sad day. i feel for his family. he had people that loved him too, and it is hard to lose someone. when they said guilty, what did you think? it was kind of a nonfeeling. i wasn t extress what i was thinking. like what next. what is really going on? i can t going to act out or nothing like that. it was just unbelievable.