To: Governor Abbott, Governor of Texas
Governor Abbott: Do not execute Rodney Reed
Rodney Reed is literally fighting for his life again from Texas death row. The state is planning on executing him on November 20th.
We cannot let this happen— both because the death penalty is immoral, but also because the state would be executing a potentially innocent man.
More info at: http://www.nodeathpenalty.org and http://justice4rodneyreed.org/
Why is this important?
Rodney Reed was set to be executed on March 5, 2015, but he was given a stay. Now the state is trying to execute him on November 20, 2019. This is unacceptable.
New evidence has been found and new witnesses have come forward since this petition was created in 2015.
A new witness described a confession by Stacey Stite's fiance, Jimmy Fennel. The witness describes Jimmy saying to his cellmate that he murdered Stacey because she was secretly dating a Black man, Rodney Reed.
Rodney Reed has been on Texas’ death row since 1998. He was convicted of the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, a white woman, in the small town of Bastrop, Texas. Stacey’s brutal murder struck at the very heart of the community, not only for its brutality, but for the sinister chain of events it would set into motion.
Rodney’s case is a troubling mixture of prosecutorial misconduct, police corruption, poor defense, and deep institutional racism