Rodney Reed's Bid For A New Trial Denied
12/17/08 Rodney Reed's bid for a new trial was denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals early Wednesday. Reed is on death row for the 1996 slaying of Stacy Stites in Bastrop. Stites was the fiancé of former Giddings and Georgetown police officer Jimmy Fennell.
The Court said that the defense's claim that Reed is not guilty had a "lack of a cohesive theory of innocence".
In a effort to arguing that Reed is innocent, the defense included new evidence to convince the Court that Jimmy Fennell is the real killer. The court evaluated evidence of Fennell's recent wrongdoings and said that the new information had offered a "healthy suspicion" that Fennell had been involved. The ruling said that with the evidence presented, the court was not sure that a jury would convict Fennell beyond a reasonable doubt.
Attorneys for Reed have said that DNA evidence found on a beer can near the murder scene was that of a police officer who was friend of Fennell. Reed's defense argues that this evidence was withheld by the State and would have implicated Fennell.
Jimmy Fennell was an officer with the Giddings
Police Department in the mid 90's
and was questioned in the 1996 murder of his 19 year old girlfriend, in
Recent missteps by Fennell have re-kindled suspicions that he was involved in the murder.
This past September, Fennell was convicted of kidnapping and improper activity with a person in custody after he waived his right to a trial.
Fennell was arrested in October of 2007 and charged after a Williamson County woman reported that he drove her to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her while he was on duty as a police officer for the City of Georgetown. The incident took place when Fennell was sent out to aid the woman during a family disturbance call.
In June, District Judge Burt Carnes denied a plea agreement set up
between the prosecutors office and Fennell’s attorney. The deal included
two years in prison, 10 years probation and a $5,000 fine. As part of
the agreement Fennell would have pleaded guilty to felony charges of
kidnapping and sexual
misconduct and as a result would have had to forfeit his peace officer’s
license.
Wednesday's 100 page ruling rejected the arguments set forth in the appeal and denied Reed's request for a second trial. According to Reed's counsel the case will be brought before the Court again because they must consider several appeals that were not addressed in Wednesday's opinion.
