GALVESTON, Texas – A Texas man on death row has been hospitalized in Galveston.

Rodney Reed, 50, was admitted to Hospital Galveston on Aug. 21 for an unknown reason.

Reed was convicted of abducting, raping and strangling 19-year-old Stacy Stites in 1996.  Her body was found on the side of the road 35 miles southeast of Austin.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review an appeal to test additional DNA evidence in the case over the summer. Along with his attorneys, Reed argued in June that a new trial should be granted on the grounds of newly-discovered evidence.   

The Texas courts upheld Reed's conviction of capital murder and sentenced him to death. Over the following two decades numerous protests have claimed Reed is innocent. According to Reed, Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, is guilty of her murder.