Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Stays Execution of Rodney Reed

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the exe­cu­tion of Rodney Reed (pic­tured) on November 15, 2019, direct­ing the Bastrop County dis­trict court to review Reed’s claims that pros­e­cu­tors sup­pressed excul­pa­to­ry evi­dence and pre­sent­ed false tes­ti­mo­ny and that he is actu­al­ly inno­cent. The court’s action cul­mi­nat­ed a whirl­wind of activ­i­ty on the Friday pre­ced­ing Reed’s sched­uled November 20 exe­cu­tion. Earlier in the after­noon, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed to Gov. Greg Abbott that he grant a 120-day reprieve of Reed’s execution. 

The deci­sions fol­lowed an out­pour­ing of pub­lic sup­port for stop­ping Reed’s exe­cu­tion that was unpar­al­leled in the mod­ern his­to­ry of the U.S. death penal­ty. The flood of atten­tion includ­ed requests by Texas leg­is­la­tors from across the polit­i­cal spec­trum, high-pro­file celebri­ties, legal orga­ni­za­tions, diplo­mats, and near­ly three mil­lion peti­tion­ers who have asked Texas offi­cials to halt Reed’s exe­cu­tion or delay it to per­mit courts to con­sid­er mount­ing evi­dence that he is inno­cent and to allow for DNA testing. 

The pres­sure from Texas pub­lic offi­cials to put off the exe­cu­tion came from across the state and across the polit­i­cal aisle. In what Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz described on November 8 as a ​“remark­able bipar­ti­san coali­tion,” 26 mem­bers of the Texas House of Representatives sent a let­ter to Gov. Abbott seek­ing a reprieve to allow for DNA test­ing that may exon­er­ate Reed. The House let­ter was fol­lowed by a sim­i­lar call by a bipar­ti­san group of 16 Texas state sen­a­tors. Cruz said that he sup­ports cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment ​“but if there is cred­i­ble evi­dence there’s a real chance the defen­dant is inno­cent, that evi­dence should be weighed carefully.” 

Earlier in the day on November 15, Republican Texas Congressman Michael McCaul wrote in a let­ter to Abbott and the par­dons board, “[a] death sen­tence is final, and giv­en the doubt sur­round­ing his inno­cence at this time, I believe our state can­not exe­cute Mr. Reed in good con­science with­out ful­ly review­ing all evi­dence.” The Republican Party in Polk County — which hous­es the state’s death row — adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion on November 8 call­ing on the gov­er­nor to grant clemen­cy and for the pros­e­cu­tor to ​“can­cel the November 20 exe­cu­tion date, test all the evi­dence, and ini­ti­ate a new trial.” 

The grow­ing polit­i­cal oppo­si­tion to Reed’s exe­cu­tion mir­rored the flood of state­ments by major celebri­ties ask­ing Texas to stand down. Reed’s ear­ly sup­port­ers includ­ed Dr. Phil McGraw, who devot­ed two days of the Dr. Phil Show to Reed’s case, and real­i­ty tele­vi­sion per­son­al­i­ty Kim Kardashian. Recently per­form­ers Beyoncé, Meek Mill, Questlove, and Rihanna, and con­ser­v­a­tive tele­vi­sion host Chuck Woolery, a native Texan, advo­cat­ed on Reed’s behalf. In an appear­ance on CBS This Morning, Oprah Winfrey asked Gov. Abbott to ​“take a pause” to pro­vide time to review the case. She said, ​“Something’s off here. Something needs to be done.” 

The world diplo­mat­ic com­mu­ni­ty and legal experts also raised con­cerns. The European Union wrote to the gov­er­nor ask­ing him to stop Reed’s exe­cu­tion and order DNA test­ing. American Bar Association pres­i­dent, Judy Perry Martinez, wrote to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles sup­port­ing clemen­cy and say­ing that the ABA is ​“deeply trou­bled” by Reed’s impend­ing exe­cu­tion. Former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge Elsa Alcala said that “[t]he evi­dence today is not what the evi­dence was [when Reed was sen­tenced to death] in 1998, or even what it was back 5 years ago when I looked at the case.” Stressing that pro­ce­dur­al bar­ri­ers to the con­sid­er­a­tion of new evi­dence under­mine the avail­abil­i­ty of mean­ing­ful court review, Alcala asked the gov­er­nor to intervene. 

Reed’s exe­cu­tion also drew sig­nif­i­cant atten­tion from activists, faith lead­ers, and the pub­lic at large. Supporters have ral­lied at the Texas Capitol and in front of Governor Abbott’s man­sion. Journalist and activist Shaun King spear­head­ed calls for sup­port­ers to sign a peti­tion to stop Reed’s exe­cu­tion, with near­ly 3 mil­lion peo­ple sign­ing on. The Catholic Diocese of Austin also asked Gov. Abbott to issue a reprieve. Bishop Joe Vasquez explained, “[e]vidence has now come for­ward since Mr. Reed was sen­tenced and that needs to be reviewed.”