(Credit: Associated Press)
Rodney Reed has been a Death Row inmate since 1998 following his conviction in the strangling death of Stacey Stites in Bastrop County in 1996. Since then, Reed has appealed multiple times and has had his case unseccessfully taken all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Now, with all appeals exhausted, prosecutors are asking the State of Texas to act quickly by imposing an execution date of November 20.
Reed’s attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss that request made by the prosecution. The state requires execution dates to be set no less than 90 days prior, meaning the deadline would be in August.
DNA from the crime scene matched Reed’s, however, Reed has consistently maintained that he had consensual sex with Stites. Her body was found dumped on a wodded road in Bastrop County.
Reed’s most recent execution date was set back in 2015, but he was later granted a stay.
