Shania Romain

Professor Hall 

English 

November 14th, 2019

 

What can I find out about Rodney Reed’s Case? What Can it tell us about Wrongful Convictions ?

 

In America you will definitely find many cases of the wrongfully convicted. Many of the times Prosecutors believe that they have reached the final verdict in hearing that case and nothing else matters. To be  wrongfully convicted is not okay and shows the failure in our legal system. This is especially difficult if you are not guilty and someone speaks up for the crime you served time for. Following Rodney Reed’s case, you see the hand for hand how the system fails us every day.

 

The Innocence Project is a non profit organization founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, in New York City . Their main focus is to help put a stop to the wrongfully convicted. They try to help exonerate people. They have men Caucasian and  African American especially like Rodney Reed himself who may be up there on death row waiting just to be heard. They have very few women . This source helps people from all over and tries to change the legal system. “ The Innocence Project mission is to free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment “ This is the Innocence Project’s mission. We need more projects like this because wrongful conviction cases are reaching an all-time high and thank God for nonprofits like these who go out of their way to help people like Rodney Reed who is in a predicament in a State that will give the death penalty without blinking an eye. Rodney Red is also African American so the system may be harsher on him. The Innocence Projects get that and this is why they are nonprofit. They pick their cases from the most severe they won’t just pick anybody.

 

The Innocence Project is built for the incarcerated like Rodney Reed when the judge turns their back on. The Innocence Project raises a voice for them because the system failed these people and the Innocence Project holds the system accountable. This is a great movement to society because not only do they exonerate but they also help the exoneree. Thier  “Support “ part of the program, states ‘ Our Social Work department supports exonerees as they rebuild their lives post-release. This project has been a boon or blessing to those they “ release from wrongful convictions like Rodney Reed. Rodney Reeds’ cases front and center on the Innocent Project’s page where it states “ Urgent stop the November 20 execution of Rodney Reed .”.There are 53072 signatures. It gives information that states “ we have less than 7 days to save Rodney Reed’s life. If 16 Texas senators are urging the Governor to stop the execution of this man then some thing is wrong and sadly you find things like this common in the great nation of America.

 

Urgent: Stop the November

 

 

 

20 execution of Rodney Reed 

 

There is an interview with the infamous Dr. Phil who is a television personality and host of the Dr. Phil show for 25 years. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology and has many books like ‘Life strategies. Dr. Phil is known for dealing with real-life issues in his own way by welcoming helping or exposing people. In this case, he exposed the Rodney Reed case which was close to being a dead end. In the interview with Rodney Reed and Dr. Phil, you get more of an understanding of what  Rodney Reed is going through and the case at hand top to bottom. On October 11th, 2019 Dr. Phil aired a two-part segment where he gets to the root of the case of Rodney Reed who has been on death row 21 and a half years for murder and rape. We learned despite many piles of evidence that support his innocence Rodney Reed is still on death row . In this interview it gets deeper into Rodney Reed’s case where he answered the questions with honesty and he states ‘ they have the truth they know the truth ‘’

Rodney Reed left no tables turned in answering the questions. He answered with honesty which left Dr. Phil to conclude his innocence. We learn that Rodney Reed has an alibi witness that can greatly show that he wasn’t there the time of the murder. At 4:55 am Rodney Reed was at his parent’s house talking with other people the alibi went home and returned to Rodney Reed’s place. The women 19-year-old Stacey Stites was already dead and dumped by 4 am and found by the road. One full year after Stacey Stites was found dead they arrest Rodney Reed for Rape and murder .“ I didn’t do this crime and here they are trying to take my life” says Rodney Reed.

 

Dr. Phil doesn’t just interview anyone, however, he handpicked this interview because he wanted to help exonerate the innocent Rodney Reed. However, Dr. Phil, from interviewing Rodney Reed like the rest of the world believes that he is innocent and he was failed by the legal system. According to the speaker, retired NYPD detective SRGT Kevin Ganin who spoke on Dr. Phil’s show who has been solving this case since it started 1996 states “The only evidence linking Rodney Reed to Stacey’s murder are three sperm cells found inside of her “  Stacey Stites did, however, have an affair with Rodney Reed although engaged to a police officer Jimmy Fennel. He believes that Rodney reed was wrongfully convicted. We also learn from this speaker that at “2;45 in the morning Stacey took her boyfriend’s truck headed to work in a grocery mart. They believe Rodney Reed came on foot where he strangled her and raped her in a wooded area using a leather belt, He also states that Prosecutors are saying Rodney took the truck to a high school and abandoned it. The only piece of evidence used to prosecute Rodney Reed is the three sperm cells in her body and they want to give him the death penalty. This is not okay because more DNA should have been found. Rodney Reed’s DNA should have been on the leather belt or while strangling her bruises and cuts in her neck or something else. I n this interview we learn that medical experts are saying according to Dr. Phil “ It is medically impossible for Rodney Reed to have been the killer “. 

The Free Rodney Reed website is designated especially for Rodney Reed. This website can tell you everything you need to know about Rodney Reed. As of Right now, this man has 6 days before he gets a decision on whether he will be executed. Rodney Reed is being treated unfairly by the legal system and as a black man this is very common, Unfortunately, he had to serve 21 long and hard years not knowing when he was going to die or not at any time. An innocent man may be executed for something he didn’t even do. According to the website, “ Mountains of evidence exonerates Rodney Reed. All of that evidence was kept from the white jury that convicted him. Instead, the evidence implicates the victim’s fiance Jimmy Fennell who has a history of violence against women including being convicted for kidnapping and sexual assault soon after Rodney was wrongly sent to prison. A black man always gets harsher treatment. A black man always gets lethal injection before a white man does. THIS IS NOT OKAY.T his man is innocent. These people have to look at the facts.T he is the 21st century and racism is STILL at an all-time high.B efore they listen to a black man’s plea they are so quick to shove him in a prison cell when the facts are right under their noses. This is almost like we still live back in the days when different races couldn’t be together and it’s not okay. This man has been through enough he needs to be exonerated.

 

Rodney Reed is a resident of Texas state where the death penalty reigns. Their laws are more strict than ever. It may be very hard to come out of a death penalty case. However, on the FreeRodney Reed website, it states ‘Governor Greg Abbott has stopped execution before. He can again “. Governor Greg Abbott staff number is also located on the site for people to call and voice their concerns regarding the case You can call and advocate on behalf of Rodney Reed, who is very much innocent. the website instructs you to tell them you called and tell them to delay Rodney Reed’s execution.

 

Overall I learned more about wrongful convictions and how America has really messed up the legal system. A man who just for having an affair may be executed for something he has not done. He already has enough time wasted and now his entire existence might be gone as well. The justice system is entirely corrupted and I see why I want to work with the law even more so that I can have an impact on things like this.