In 1998, Rodney Reed was convicted of the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop County. Numerous questions remain about the certainty of Reed’s guilt, the nature of the evidence against him, and the possibility that local authorities and state prosecutors ignored or mishandled evidence that might have pointed to other suspects.
Some of the most important questions:
Investigators apparently ignored or discounted evidence that suggested that Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell Jr. (a Giddings Police officer, and former employee of the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office) may have been involved in the murder.
Although it was the last place she was seen alive, investigators failed to search the Giddings apartment shared by Fennell and Stites. They also returned Fennell’s pickup truck to him before completing a forensic analysis — although according to Fennell, the victim had been driving the truck the night of her death.
DNA evidence discovered at the crime scene and which might have implicated others — including police officers acquainted with Fennell — was apparently never provided to the defense for analysis, according to trial documents.
Inconsistencies in the records and the photographs of Stites’ body suggest the strong possibility, at least, of mishandling of the body.
Witnesses who might have provided an alibi for Reed, or corroborated his claim of an affair with Stites, were not heard during the evidentiary phase of his original trial. Furthermore, the affidavit of James Robertson, who also claimed he knew of the relationship between Reed and Stites, was not made a part of Reed’s state habeas appeal.This article appears in March 1 • 2002.
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by
Jordan Smith
