Updated at 4:38 p.m.: Revised to include appeals court ruling
HOUSTON — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution Friday for Rodney Reed, based in part on his claims of actual innocence.
The action by the appeals court returns case to trial court to consider new evidence presented that supporters say points to innocence. The ruling supersedes action by Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles earlier in the day. The board recommended delaying Reed’s execution because of new evidence that his supporters say raises serious doubts about his guilt.
The parole board unanimously recommended a 120-day reprieve for Reed.
The appeals court decision spares Gov. Greg Abbott from making a decision in the case. The governor, who appoints the seven-member parole board, has been tight-lipped about the case.
Reed, 51, was set for lethal injection Wednesday evening for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites.
Reed’s efforts to stop his execution have received support from such celebrities as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian and Oprah, Lawmakers from both parties, including Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, have also asked that officials take a closer look at the evidence in the case. On Friday, Kardashian visited Reed in prison.
Since Texas resumed executions in 1982, only three death row inmates have had their sentences commuted to life in prison within days of their scheduled executions.
The parole board since 1982 has recommended commuting a death row inmate’s sentence five times. But former Texas Gov. Rick Perry rejected the recommendation twice, in 2004 and 2009.
Since taking office in 2015, Abbott has halted only one imminent execution, which occurred in 2018.
Reed also still has several appeals pending, including with the U.S. Supreme Court. His supporters have held various rallies leading up to his execution, including an overnight vigil on Thursday in front of the Supreme Court in Washington. A rally in front of the Texas governor’s mansion is set for Sunday.
Prosecutors say Reed raped and strangled Stites as she made her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, a rural community about 30 miles southeast of Austin.
Reed has long maintained he didn’t kill Stites and that her fiance, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the real killer. Reed says Fennell was angry because Stites, who was white, was having an affair with Reed, who is black.
Fennell’s attorney has said his client didn’t kill Stites. Fennell was paroled last year after serving time in prison for sexual assault.
Prosecutors say Reed’s semen was found in the victim, his claims of an affair with Stites were not proven at trial, Fennell was cleared as a suspect and Reed had a history of committing other sexual assaults.
Reed’s lawyers say his conviction was based on flawed evidence. They have denied the other sexual assault accusations made by prosecutors.
In recent weeks, Reed's attorneys have presented affidavits in support of his claims of innocence, including one by a former prison inmate who claims Fennell bragged about killing Stites and referred to Reed by a racial slur. Reed's lawyers say other recent affidavits corroborate the relationship between Stites and Reed and show that Fennell was violent and aggressive toward Stites.
--Associated Press
