The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, who sought DNA testing of crime scene evidence he claims would prove his innocence. Reed was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas.
This is the second time in less than three years that the justices have declined to intervene, leaving in place a ruling against Reed from the federal appeals court in New Orleans. Reed has long maintained that Stites' fiancé, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the real killer, alleging Fennell was angered by an interracial affair between Stites and Reed.
Prosecutors have refused to allow DNA testing of the webbed belt used to strangle Stites, arguing that the evidence may be contaminated. Reed's attorneys contend that the killer's sweat and skin cells would be present on the belt, and that the state routinely uses contaminated evidence in prosecutions.
The Supreme Court previously sent Reed's case back to a lower court in 2023 regarding his constitutional challenge to Texas's DNA testing law. Lower courts have since ruled that Reed missed the deadline to file his lawsuit. Reed's case has drawn support from celebrities including Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, and Oprah Winfrey.
