of stacey. the body of 19-year-old stacey stites was found along a roadside. she had been raped and strangled. her fiance gives his recollection of the events the night before. that helps shape the time line used at rodney reed s trial. stacey went to bed in the apartment they shared in texas at about 8:30 because she had to get up early the next morning to be at work at 3:30. . work was about 30 miles away. she would set her alarm for 2:45 and leave the house at 3:00 a.m. stacey stites never made it to work one earl political morning just weeks before her wedding day. fw anel s truck is later found by a local patrol officer
it really was unbelievable. i just it felt like i was in a dream. it felt like it wasn t real. it wasn t real. like this can t be happening. to this day, reed maintains his innocence. all of that evidence has been out there, it has always been out there. it has been in the state s hands all this time. decades old institution in over 300 wrongfully convicted people through dna testing. they believe there is enough new information to clear rodney reed. this case has everything wrong with it that is wrong with the american criminal justice testimony today. you have racial discrimination, you have misconduct by the state, you have ineffective assistant of counsel, and you
contact with a person in custody. he s sentenced to ten years in prison and scheduled to be released in september 2018. jimmy fennell declined our request for an interview. he cry on the stand when he talked about learning from another officer that stacey was dead. juror s in rodney reed s 1998 trial could not have known that a decade later, jimmy fennell would be in prison for kidnapping. what they saw at the time was a credible witness for the prosecution. he talked a lot about multiple interrogations kind of good cop/bad cop techniques being yelled at being called names. pretty intensive interrogation from the texas ranger that was in charge. jimmy fennell was the primary source for the time line that was used by prosecutors in the conviction of rodney reed for the rape and murder of stacey stites.
source for the time line that was used by prosecutors in the conviction of rodney reed. let s talk about the state s timeline and what you think the holes of it are. this is raised by the new evidence. the state s time line is based on jimmy fennell who was allegedly asleep at the time. there was forensic confer ration of fennell s time line. estimates the time of death about 3:00 a.m. then he recanted his original testimony including the time of death being at 3:00 a.m. according to the original case, stacey stites was killed sometimes after she left her
it texas, a capital murder trial is followed by a 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.