US: Supreme Court rejects appeal by a man sentenced to death in Texas

Washington (USA), 23 March (LaPresse) – The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal lodged by Rodney Reed, a long-term death row inmate in Texas, who had sought to have certain evidence found at the crime scene examined, which, he claimed, would help exonerate him. For the second time in less than three years, the judges have upheld the ruling against Reed handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The three liberal-leaning judges issued a dissenting opinion. Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. The prosecution refused to authorise DNA testing on the fabric belt used to strangle Stites as she was on her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, south-east of Austin.