The fate of a death row inmate who claims to be innocent has been left in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

United States Supreme Court considered the appeal on Tuesday Rodney Reida death row inmate who claims to be innocent and narrowly escaped execution in 2019 thanks to the support of celebrities, lawmakers and millions of Americans.

The country’s highest court did not discuss the substance of the Reed case, but a purely technical aspect related to procedural issues.

However, the decision of the nine-member court, which must be made before June 30 next year, will have a direct impact on Reed’s future, authorizing the reopening of his case or, conversely, execution.

A 54-year-old man was sentenced to death in Texas in 1998 for rape and murder Stacy Stitesgirl 19 years old.

The victim was found to have traces of his semen, and during the trial, prosecutors claimed he had been sexually assaulted in the past. Reed always denied this and explained that he had a secret affair with the victim.

His defenders believe that the materials collected after the trial confirm his version of events and point to another suspect: the victim’s fiancé, Jimmy Fennela police officer who later served a 10-year prison sentence for kidnapping and on-duty rape.

According to Reed’s supporters, Fennell’s cellmate said that Fennell confessed to him that he killed Stites because he was sleeping behind his back with another man.

Fennell denied involvement in Stites’ murder, but police initially considered him a suspect.

sweat and skin

To prove his innocence, Reed filed a petition in Texas in 2014, a new DNA analysis, in particular the belt with which a young woman was strangled.

“The killer’s hands may have left traces of sweat or skin cells” on the item, his lawyers say in a Supreme Court filing.

His DNA evidence appeals were repeatedly denied by state courts, so in 2019, Reed went to federal court accusing Texas “denial of rights”.

But the federal justice system refused to intervene, arguing that his request came too late because the law has set a two-year time limit for challenging the state court’s decision in federal court.

question before Supreme Court when does this period open? Texas claims this is from the state’s first court ruling; Reed claims it’s from the latter.

At the hearing, the progressive higher court judges appeared to be leaning in favor of Reid. “Isn’t that the easiest way to say that a person has not been harmed until the process is completed in the state?” the judge asked. Elena Kagan.

His conservative colleagues, who regularly denounce the slow maneuvering of death row inmates, did not allow their preferences to be filtered. Judge Samuel Alito limited himself to pointing out the “concreteness and narrowness” of the question asked.

Per Appealinformation site exposing what he sees as shortcomings in the American legal system, this case perfectly illustrates “the twists and turns of the criminal justice system in USA”which, in his opinion, gives more weight to the interpretation of the law than to the elements of the case.” (AFP)