The execution of the death sentence of Rodney Reed, a man in the middle of a controversial murder case in Texas (United States), was suspended indefinitely. The Texas Court of Appeals decided yesterday, ordering the court that ruled Reed to examine a series of new evidence that emerged after the conviction and to consider whether to reopen the trial.
That of Reed is one of the most famous cases among people sentenced to death in the United States: various politicians and celebrities have been interested in him – Kim Kardashian was with him when the news of the suspension arrived – as well as the Innocence Project, the most famous American legal organization that deals with controversial convictions.
In 1998, Reed was convicted of the murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites two years earlier in Bastrop, Texas. The prosecution's argument was based mainly on the fact that traces of Reed's DNA had been found on the girl's body; Reed always said he was innocent, claiming that he had a consensual sexual relationship with her. After his conviction, several witnesses emerged about Stites' then-fiance, a former policeman who was convicted in 2008 of kidnapping a woman and who, according to one of his fellow prisoners, had privately confessed to killing Stites for betraying him with an African American man (Reed is black).
In the past, several Texan politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, had asked Texas governor Greg Abbott to pardon Reed, so far without success. At the moment there are 215 prisoners sentenced to death in Texan prisons.
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https://www.ilpost.it/2019/11/16/rodney-reed-condanna-morte-sospesa/
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