BASTROP, Texas — After nearly two weeks in court, attorneys for the state and Rodney Reed’s defense team have rested their case in the evidentiary hearing, and will reconvene for closing arguments in mid-August.
Following closing arguments, the judge will have some time to review all the evidence before recommending whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals should grant Reed a new trial.
Reed was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1996 rape and murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, after his DNA was found in her body.
He has long maintained his innocence, saying he and Stites had a consensual relationship, a claim her family disputes.
Just days before his scheduled execution in 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay, granting Reed this evidentiary hearing.
Reed's lawyers said that the prosecution presented false evidence, and committed a Brady violation by withholding crucial evidence that could have pointed towards Reed's innocence in the initial trial.
This hearing was the first time his legal team was able to introduce new testimony and evidence to the record in his defense, and argued for a new trial, while the state made their case to uphold the original conviction.
The evidentiary hearing lasted nine days in a Bastrop court, where nearly 50 witnesses took the stand.
“Our evidence and stuff has been admitted into this case, so we feel better than we ever have in the last 24 years about any hearing that we've been in thus far," said Rodrick Reed, Rodney Reed's brother.
The defense presented witnesses who testified they were aware of a consensual relationship between Stacey Stites and Rodney Reed, pointing towards Stites fiancé at the time, Jimmy Fennell Jr, as her killer.
“People with no axe to grind…and they came forward to tell us, and the court, what they knew, that's what's different," said Andrew MacRae, one of Reed's defense attorneys.
The state also called their own witnesses to defend their original investigation and conviction.
They included the original investigators in the case, Fennell himself, and Stites’ sister.
“There was absolutely no reason for Rodney Reed to have any type of DNA on my sister, there was no evidence of any relationship, and we still 100% believe that Rodney Reed raped and murdered my sister," said Debra Oliver, Stacey Stites' sister.
Two expert forensic pathologists were key witnesses for the defense.
They testified that after reviewing the reports, video, and photos from the crime scene and autopsy, they believe Stites died hours earlier than the state claims, placing her with Fennell at her time of death.
“We want Rodney to have the day in court that he actually deserves with all of this evidence of his innocence to be presented," said Jane Pucher, an attorney with the Innocence Project, and part of Rodney Reed's legal team.
The state presented their own experts who disagreed, supporting the original medical examiner’s report.
They also brought witnesses who testified about other charges against Reed.
One woman said she was raped in 1995, and the DNA from her rape kit ultimately matched Reed’s.
Another woman said six months after Stites’ murder, a man tried to abduct and assault her, but she got away.
She identified Reed as her assailant out of a photo lineup.
The defense objected to their testimony being included, saying Reed has never been convicted of those crimes.
“Rodney is presumed innocent of every other thing that he's accused of," said MacRae. "He was never appointed an attorney for any of them. None of them has been investigated. Twenty-five years and the state has done nothing.”
“Let’s fight with the facts of this case, let's deal with the merits of this case, and get a fair hearing and trial for this case that's all we want," said Rodrick Reed.
“It’s time for this to end and enough is enough," said Oliver.
Twenty-five years later, two families are still fighting for closure.
“Justice will prevail," said Oliver.