2019's Big Stories Shaping Austin's Path Into a New Decade

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Nov. 15: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Stays the Execution of Rodney Reed

Rodney Reed's family in 2002 (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Convicted in 1998 of the rape and murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop two years earlier, Reed has been on Texas' death row for 20 years, consistently proclaiming his innocence. Multiple legal challenges to Reed's conviction over the years, along with reporting by news outlets including the Chronicle (beginning in 2001), have called into question the prosecution's case, which rests entirely on the presence of Reed's sperm in Stites' body as determined by a DNA test. Reed claims he and Stites were having an (interracial) affair behind the back of her (racist and violent) boyfriend, former police Officer Jimmy Fennell, who Reed's family, defenders at the Innocence Project, and supporters throughout the world believe is the real killer; Fennell would later serve 10 years in prison for the rape and kidnapping of another woman when he was a cop in Georgetown. Reed's previous execution date in 2015 was stayed by the state's highest criminal court, but subsequent hearings into the substantial evidence of his innocence still left many questions unanswered, most observers unsatisfied, and Reed still on death row. But as his new execution date approached this year, the snowballing outrage over the case finally broke into national and international consciousness, with everyone from Dr. Phil to Pope Francis to Kim Kardashian-West to Ted Cruz calling for a halt to allow for a real, honest exploration of Reed's claims, including a number of new witnesses and calls to test the forensic evidence, including the belt used to strangle Stites. The first steps toward what may be long-delayed justice for Reed – and Stites – should be taken in a Bastrop courtroom in February 2020. – M.C.M.