U.S. Supreme Court rejects Texas death row inmate’s petition

(The Texas Tribune) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to give Rodney Reed the chance to have his murder case reviewed, delivering a blow to the death row inmate who has for more than a quarter century maintained that he is innocent of the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites.Reed, a Black man, was convicted in 1998 of killing a 19-year-old White woman in the Central Texas town of Bastrop. For years, Reed’s guilt has been questioned, with his supporters pointing blame at Stites’ fiancé, Jimmy Fennell.Related Stories In 2019, Texas’ highest criminal court halted Reed’s execution, sending the case back to the trial court for further review. But a district judge ruled against granting Reed a new trial in 2021, and two years later the state’s highest criminal court also rejected Reed’s claims of innocence.Without offering any comment, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Reed’s petition for a writ of certiorari, which would have ordered the lower court to deliver the case records to the higher court for review.The ruling does not mean that Reed’s execution will immediately be scheduled. In another appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court last year sided with Reed, who is now 56, and cleared the...