New DNA evidence and racial bias claims renew push to overturn Rodney Reed’s death sentence
source: Vanguard News Group
published: 10 September 2026
Image Credit: sakhorn38 at www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Nearly three decades after Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 rape and murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, new evidence, untested DNA and allegations of racial bias are fueling renewed efforts to overturn his conviction and determine whether another man was responsible for the killing.
Reed, a 58-year-old Black man, has resided on Texas’ death row since 1998, following his conviction for Stites’ rape and murder in Bastrop, Texas.
According to a press release issued by Fair and Just Prosecution, or FJP, a coalition of 29 law enforcement officials and prosecutors filed an amicus brief on July 30, 2026, requesting that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals re-examine evidence in Reed’s decades-old case.
The brief calls on the court to permit the necessary DNA testing that Reed has previously been denied. The coalition explains that the results could “exculpate Reed and identify the real killer,” citing racial bias and gaps in evidence at trial.
The New York Times reports that his arrest was based on DNA recovered from Stites’ body that belonged to Reed. However, Reed’s testimony and six sworn declarations from witnesses corroborate that he had been involved in an affair with Stites, who was engaged to Jimmy Fennell at the time.
The FJP release notes that DNA on the belt, the alleged weapon in Stites’ murder, has yet to be tested by the state. This presents an evidence-based gap that the coalition characterizes as “a violation of the prosecutors’ public trust and a disservice to the interests of justice.”
share this article on social media
