Supreme Court Denies Rodney Reed's DNA Test

0:00The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, who sought new DNA testing to support his innocence claim. Reed, now 56, has spent more than 25 years on death row after his 1998 conviction for the 1996 strangulation murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop County. Reed wanted testing on the belt used as the murder weapon, but lower courts blocked it, citing contamination from handling by lawyers and others. He argued this violated his due process rights, especially with modern DNA advances that could yield clear results pointing to the real killer. The decision came down 6-3, with a dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketangi Brown-Jackson. They questioned why Texas prosecutors refused the test, despite its potential to exonerate Reed or implicate others, calling it a risk no court should. Ignore. Reed has long denied involvement and pointed to Stites' ex-pianse, former police officer

1:00Jimmy Finnell, as a suspect. His conviction rested partly on semen evidence, and his case drew big name support from figures like Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, and Beyonce Plus. Execution stays in recent years. This ruling ends Reed's latest federal push, leaving his conviction intact amid ongoing debates over forensic evidence and death penalty fairness. Local news, powered by AI. This is Dallas News Today.