Supreme Court Rejects Texas Death Row Inmate Rodney Reed's DNA Evidence Appeal
The United States Supreme Court has formally rejected an appeal from longtime Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, who has persistently sought to conduct DNA testing on critical crime-scene evidence that he insists would help clear his name. The justices' decision, announced on Monday 23 March 2026, leaves in place a previous ruling against Reed from the federal appeals court based in New Orleans, marking the second such rejection in under three years.
Case Background and Legal Proceedings
Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, who was strangled with a webbed belt as she travelled to her supermarket job in Bastrop, a rural community approximately 30 miles southeast of Austin. Prosecutors have consistently refused to permit DNA testing of the belt, arguing that Reed also raped Stites, though Reed contends they were engaged in a consensual affair at the time.
Reed has long maintained that Stites' fiancé, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the actual perpetrator, alleging Fennell was enraged by their interracial relationship. Stites was white and Reed is Black. Fennell, who served prison time for sexual assault and was released in 2018, has denied any involvement in the murder.
Reed's legal team argues that the killer would have left sweat and skin cells—and thus DNA—on the belt's surface and within its webbing during the prolonged strangulation. However, state and lower federal courts have supported prosecutors' refusal to allow testing, which Reed's defense has offered to fund. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that state law on DNA testing does not apply to potentially contaminated items, though Reed's lawyers counter that the state routinely uses contaminated evidence in prosecutions and was responsible for evidence handling.
Previous Supreme Court Involvement and Dissenting Opinions
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to send Reed's case back to a lower court for a constitutional challenge to Texas' DNA testing law. The central issue was whether Reed, sentenced over 25 years ago, filed his lawsuit too late, with Texas courts and the New Orleans appeals court determining he missed the deadline. In the latest decision, the three liberal justices dissented, highlighting ongoing judicial divisions over the case.
Celebrity Support and Public Attention
Reed's efforts to halt his execution have garnered significant public attention, with high-profile celebrities including Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, and Oprah Winfrey expressing support for his cause. This backing has amplified calls for DNA testing as a means to ensure justice, though legal barriers remain firmly in place following the Supreme Court's latest ruling.
