for the abduction and rape of stacey stites. 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. obviously he had people that loved him too, and it s hard to lose someone. when they said guilty, what did you think? it was kind of a nonfeeling. i really can t express how what i was thinking it seems like you know what next. what is going on. i wasn t going to act out or nothing like that it was on my mind. it was just unbelievable. i don t believe this. in texas, a capital murder trial is followed by a punishment phase, in which the jury decides whether or not a person should be put to death by the state. the state can offer evidence of
the innocence project. one of the biggest organizations helping people who they believe have been falsely convicted. they have brought forward evidence in the case that was not used before. joining me now is barry scheck. great to have you here. good to be here. there was a stay granted last week, i guess it was. how rare is a stay like that to be granted by a texas court? you have to have a lot of good evidence and the time line evidence. the forensic evidence. not just the rigor mortis. she was no longer stiff, and there was purge coming out of her mouth. these are very esteemed medical examiners. she was decomposed for 20 hours.
i talked to him and he maintained his innocence. he told me he wish he had my case because there was dna that could be utilized. but as far as the science, that science that established his innocence was not on his side. this gets to the question, we know what the standard is at trial. it s reasonable doubt. once someone has been convicted sentenced to death, what is the standard? what do you have to show a court to go through the extraordinary process of what is a settled legal matter. in texas, the standard is clear. they call it actual innocence or clear and convincing evidence of innocence. so this forensic medical examiner evidence is very, very powerful. and i think it meets that standard and that s the reason this case was stayed. and so you actually have to you have to come forward and say, we have evidence of actual innocence, right?
what s happening is real it s not like tv where someone gets killed in a movie and then he made some money and went home back to his family. this is real. they re really killing people here in texas. what i learned from months of investigating his case, next. sweet mother of softness. charmin!!! take a closer look at charmin ultra soft and you ll love what you see. not only can you use less, but you can actually see the softness in our comfort cushions. we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft? .they ran into jeff nash, like literally ran into him so awkward. that wasn t
more than 20 hours pushes you all the way back to 11:00 p.m. she s dead in the house with jimmy fennell. it is rare for a texas court, the court of criminal appeals, to grand this kind of a stay, but we just got a statute passed in texas that allows people to go back into court when there is forensic evidence that can prove evidence that was not originally brought forward at a trial. that was passed in texas? you wouldn t normally anticipate that. the reason is because there was a series of cases where they recognized that there was a medical examiner who made mistakes, and they went back, the legislature, to do it. we ve had a lot of exonerations in texas, and by the way, governor abbott when this stay was granted said, i m thankful. i don t want an execution in my state when there is a stat