WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed's request to review his claim that prosecutors at his 1998 trial illegally suppressed evidence that could have exonerated him in Stacey Stites' murder.
According to KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, the Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down Reed's request for justices to grant a writ of certiorari, which would have ordered a lower court to send the case record up for review.
The rejection means the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' decision to deny Reed a new trial still stands. That court ruled last year that the testimony of new witnesses in a 2021 evidentiary hearing wouldn't have changed the outcome of Reed's original trial.
Background on this case
In 1998, Reed was convicted of the 1996 abduction, rape and murder of 19-year-old Stites in Bastrop and was sentenced to death. Days before his scheduled execution in 2019, he was granted a stay.
Reed has maintained his innocence, and his lawyers have requested DNA tests be conducted on crime scene evidence, including Stites' clothing and two pieces of the belt used to strangle her. Prosecutors have argued those items have been contaminated by repeated handling over the decades.
Below is just some of KVUE's and our partners' coverage of Reed's case:
- Rodney Reed's fate now lies with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Criminal Appeals
- Texas’ highest criminal court emphatically rejects death row inmate Rodney Reed’s claim of innocence
- U.S. Supreme Court says Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed can try to use DNA to prove his innocence
- Brother, attorney for Rodney Reed react to recent SCOTUS ruling for post-conviction DNA testing
- New petition filed in Rodney Reed case claims prosecutors hid evidence
- After 20-plus years on death row, Rodney Reed’s conviction should stand, judge says
The Supreme Court's ruling doesn't end Reed's attempts to overturn his conviction, as the high court ruled earlier this year the request for further DNA testing in his case can be considered.