Texas Death Row Inmate Gains Support As Execution Looms

AUSTIN, TX — With a Nov. 20 date for his execution looming, a Texas death row inmate has gained a growing number of supporters believing his claims of innocence while pleading for clemency.

According to multiple news reports, Rodney Reed has garnered support from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, "Dr. Phil" McGraw and Kim Kardashian West as part of a growing number of people urging Governor Greg Abbott to show clemency toward the inmate. Last Friday, the European Union weighed in as well, urging clemency for Reed on the basis that evidence "casts substantial doubt as to his culpability." Some 2 million people have signed petitions urging for clemency, including a Change.org petition calling for the halt to the planned execution.

Reed, 51, was found guilty in the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacy Stites, but a witness submitting testimony last week claimed another man, the victim's fiancé, confessed to the crime. The case has yielded racial undertones given that Reed is black while the woman killed was white. Moreover, Reed was convicted by an all-white jury.

According to extensive media coverage of the case, Reed was arrested after sperm was found inside Stites' body, prompting his arrest in 1998 after prosecutors said the woman had been raped prior to being killed. According to reports, prosecutors said the woman spent an evening at home with her fiancé before being intercepted by her attacker between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., raped and strangled with her body left in a remote area in Bastrop, Texas.

Originally denying having known her, Reed later claimed to have had consensual sex with the woman with whom he claims he was having an affair. This is how he explained how his sperm was found inside the victim.

It's that sperm — specifically its life cycle —that may now decide Reed's fate. Forensic experts support Reed's claim of consensual sex after concluding sperm could survive up to 72 hours inside a body after sex. A medical examiner whose testimony once supported the state's arguments later changed his account to say there is no evidence indicating the presence of Reed's sperm in Stites' body was the result of a sexual assault.

With less than two weeks left until the moment of reckoning for Reed, it's essentially up to the governor whether Reed's sentence will be commuted. Meanwhile, a growing chorus of supporters continues to plead for mercy until the fateful day.