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| Rodney Reed |
Death row inmate Rodney Reed’s motion for expanded DNA testing of evidence in his capital murder case was denied Tuesday by visiting Judge Doug Shaver, though the court did accept a separate motion delaying his date of execution from Jan. 15 to March 5.
Reed was convicted in the 1996 murder and rape of Stacy Stites, though defense attorneys contend Jimmy Fennell, Stites’ fiance, was likely responsible for the murder. Fennell is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a woman in his custody while employed as a Georgetown police officer.
Prosecutors this summer agreed to order additional DNA tests on swabs taken from Stites’ body, cuttings taken from her underwear and strands of hair retrieved from her left sock and her body. Test results have not yet been presented to the court, but will be available before March 5, prosecutors said.
Defense attorneys said Tuesday that the testing of additional items — including several pieces of clothing found on or near Stites, as well as two Busch beer cans — could also provide evidence supporting Reed’s innocence. The defense also wants to test a blue condom found near the crime scene by a resident, which was submitted to investigators several days after Stites’ murder. Shaver ultimately ruled that additional testing would unreasonably delay the execution.
