Lawyer-to-be Kim Kardashian and Rihanna amongst other celebrities have lent their voices to the unfair judgement meted on Rodney Reeds, a man accused of rape and murder of Stacey Stites.
Rihanna has signed a petition which has gathered almost a million signees directed at Judge Abbot to halt his execution and is scheduled to die within the next fifteen days.
Rodney Reeds has been incarcerated for more than 21 years over the alleged murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old teenager in 1996. The 51-year old’s DNA was found in a semen sample taken during Stites’ autopsy.
He is said to have assaulted and raped Stites and then killed her by strangling. He confessed to have had a secret affair with Stites before her death in explanation to his DNA in the corpse.
Rodney Reed, however, pleaded not guilty throughout the trial. In a turn of events, new evidence proving Reed’s innocence cropped up last week. It came in the form of an affidavit signed by Arthur Snow Jr. Snow is a former fellow inmate of Jimmy Fennell, the fiancé of late Stites.
In Snow’s affidavit, he said that Fennell boasted of killing Stites because he found out that she had been cheating on him with a black man. Jimmy Fennell is a former cop who was also incarcerated for 10 years on the grounds of rape.
According to Snow, he was in prison for forgery in 2010. When Fennell arrived in prison, he sought Snow’s help and protection because Snow belonged to the Aryan Brotherhood. Fennell was said to have bragged about the murder in order to be accepted into the Aryan Brotherhood.
About the reason for stepping up at the last minute, The Mercury News reported, “Snow realized Reed was in prison for a murder that Fennell had confessed to him, Snow said in his affidavit.”
Fennell’s lawyer, Robert Phillips has however disregarded the confession by Snow. According to Phillip, after serving time in prison, Fennell has been converted to Christianity and he has been helping drug addicts overcome their addiction.
Although he was a suspect during the investigation, Fennell was never charged to court. According to The Sun,
“His legal team insisted the credible new findings – including an alleged murder confession that Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, gave to another inmate – would exonerate Reed.”
Other celebrities calling for the re-investigation of Rodney Reed include Meek Mill, LL Cool J, Gigi Hadid, T.I, Isaiah Washington and many others.
The hashtag #freerodneyreed has been repeatedly shared by these celebrities and their followers. Prominent among them is Kim Kardashian, a reality star and a law student.
She tweeted: “PLEASE @GovAbbott How can you execute a man when since his trial, substantial evidence that would exonerate Rodney Reed has come forward and even implicates the other person of interest.
“I URGE YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING.”
[…] Rihanna, Kim Kardashian join Campaign to halt unfair execution of Rodney Reed […]
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