March 17 & 18: Demand a new trial for Rodney Reed!
Oral arguments in Rodney’s case are being heard Wednesday, March 19 by the notorious Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. We are asking everyone to phone and email the CCA and the Texas Attorney General to ask for a new trial for Rodney Reed. The presiding judge of the CCA, Judge Sharon Keller, has come under fire recently for denying the appeal of Michael Richard -- the last person to be executed in Texas as national de facto moratorium on executions took effect -- because she was unwilling to keep the court open after 5 PM. With the life of an innocent man in the hands of this court, we need to ratchet up the pressure.
Rodney Reed deserves a new trial, where evidence of his innocence can finally be heard in court. Evidence was hidden by police and prosecutors that implicate another suspect in the murder of Stacey Stites. Read the attached fact sheet for an overview of the case. Rodney’s defense has long posited that Jimmy Fennell, the fiance of Stacey, is the more likely suspect in this crime. For recent developments surrounding Jimmy Fennell check out: http://www.statesman.com/news
PLEASE CONTACT:
TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
(512) 463-1551
ATTORNEY GENERAL GREG ABBOTT
(512) 463-2100
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WEDNESDAY MARCH 19, 9 AM
TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS 201 14TH STREET
Enter through glass doors on plaza which face out to Congress on north side of Capitol. The courtroom should be on the right, or ask at the desk for directions.
Freerodneyreed.org, myspace.com/cedpaustin 494-0667 or cedpaustin@gmail.com
Although shocking, Rodney’s case is anything but unique in a criminal justice system marked by race and class bias. Reed—a Black man of less than modest means living in rural Texas—was convicted by an all-white jury. His relationship with Stites, a white woman, was taboo in this context. His original trial lawyers, who are Black, publicly stated that they were afraid to stay overnight in Bastrop during the trial, yet they were still expected by the courts to mount the most rigorous defense possible. Today, Black men constitute just over twelve percent of the nation’s population, but occupy nearly half of the spots on U.S. death rows. Furthermore, nearly all of those sentenced to death relied on notoriously inadequate court-appointed attorneys or (in states other than Texas, which has no public defender system) public defenders without the necessary resources to investigate and defend capital cases. As Rodney and his family await the CCA decision, local activist groups, led by the Austin chapter of Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP), are working to raise public awareness about the Reed case. The case has received a significant boost in visibility with the award-winning documentary State vs. Reed. These next few weeks are crucial in the fight for justice for Rodney Reed. The judges on the Court need only briefly survey the existing analysis and discussion surrounding this case to see that there is a consensus supporting a new trial for Reed. Readers may write the CCA on Rodney’s behalf (at Court of Criminal Appeals, PO Box 12308, Capitol Station, Austin, Texas 78711) and sign the petition online. Our legislators, Governor Rick Perry, and all those vying for office in the upcoming elections must also get the message that the costs of the lives ruined by the death penalty far outweigh any benefit in carrying on Texas’ tradition of executions.
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