They’re Queuing Up To Lie For Rodney Reed

In December 2019, the case of Rodney Reed was reported here. This lowlife serial rapist was sentenced to death for the April 1996 murder of teenager Stacey Stites. Reed was brought to book after he was outfoxed by his last victim, Linda Schlueter, who was in effect carjacked and nearly raped. At trial, Reed faced charges only in connection with the Stites murder, probably because the case was watertight and prosecutors didn’t want to complicate it by adding further charges.

Over the past few years, there has been a concerted campaign to free him; campaigners have already succeeded in delaying his execution; currently there is no set date, and there will be a rally at Bastrop County Courthouse, Texas on July 17. There is a dedicated website, and a lot of blurb on the website of the Innocence Project. There are no fewer than 41 potential witnesses lined up for the next hearing.

According to the Innocence Project there are ten important facts the public should know about this case including “Rodney Reed and Stacey Stites were having a consensual sexual relationship. At the time of the trial, no one came forward to corroborate their relationship. But today, new witnesses including Stacey’s own cousin and co-worker have corroborated Rodney’s claim that they knew that he and Stacey were romantically involved.”

This claim is garbage. Reed denied even knowing Stacey until he was confronted with DNA evidence. The woman who made this claim is either lying or away with the fairies.

“For months after the murder, Jimmy Fennell, Stacey’s fiancé, was the prime suspect in the case. A recording of one of the police investigators indicates that Jimmy was suspected in Stacey’s murder, and he was believed to be motivated by her relationship with another man.”

This is half-true. Fennell was a police officer who was later convicted of rape. While he was in prison for that crime, Fennell is alleged to have confessed/boasted about murdering Stacey to another inmate. A prison “confession”, what the Americans call snitch culture, isn’t worth the paper it isn’t written on. Ask Michael Stone. The reality is that the authorities did everything they could to tie Fennell to Stacey’s murder, but they couldn’t. Had she not been murdered, she and Fennell would almost certainly have been married, and maybe he wouldn’t have gone off the rails.

“Two witnesses have recently come forward and submitted signed affidavits that add to the mounting evidence against Jimmy Fennell.”

Yeah, sure. The reality is that in all cases of this nature, witnesses can be found after the event, sometimes in abundance, often sincere. After James Hanratty was executed for the A6 Murder, the left wing journalist Paul Foot claimed to have found many witnesses who believed they had seen  Hanratty over a hundred and eighty miles away in Rhyl at the time of the murder; one such witness even testified for the defence, a landlady named Grace Jones. She was honest but mistaken. Four decades after Hanratty’s death, DNA evidence further cemented an already overwhelming case.

Innocence Projects have been known to do a lot of good, but not this time. The people who run them and support them are opposed overwhelmingly to the death penalty, and some will go the extra mile to ensure it is never carried out. Expect to see Reed’s supporters fail in their endeavours, although it remains to be seen if or when he will eventually be executed.