Stand With Texas Death Row Prisoner Rodney Reed!
DROP THE DATE! TEST ALL THE DNA!
The
Campaign to End the Death Penalty, along with the family and supporters
of Rodney Reed rejects the decision today to issue a death warrant for
innocent Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed for January 14, 2015.
We
have long believed in Rodney’s innocence and, during a hearing today in
Bastrop County, we once again heard of the multitude of evidence that
could prove Rodney’s innocence if given a fair hearing either through a
new trial or through the appeals process.
We learned today that
the state has agreed to important but limited new DNA testing of some
crime scene evidence – and that the defense is asking for even more DNA
testing of several other items related to the crime scene.
While
important evidence is being tested and interpreted, and while other
testing is being considered, it is both irresponsible and cruel for the
state to seek an execution date and for the warrant to be issued by
any judge. This amounts to torture for both Rodney and his family, who
now have to live under the threat of an specific execution date, even
as Rodney’s defense team and supporters fight to prove his innocence.
As Rodney
Reed’s mother Sandra said about the decision to grant the death
warrant, “We’re very disappointed…We were thinking everything was
possibly gonna be positive about the hearing today, but it was a very
disappointing outcome. But the thing is that we remain to stay strong
and especially for him - Rodney is strong and the truth keeps us strong.
It’s not over until it’s over.”
Despite the obscene injustice
that took place in Bastrop today, Rodney’s family and supporters stand
strong in our determination to fight to save the life of Rodney Reed.
Rodney’s
defense will continue to work on getting all the DNA tested, as well as
still working for appellate relief on issues around
the misinterpretation of scientific evidence. There is a chance that the
Supreme Court could hear the case - an announcement would likely be
made in late October if that were to happen.
And Rodney’s family and supporters have vowed to keep up the fight outside the courthouse. We are planning a rally on July 24th at 11 am
outside the Bastrop County Court House to call the State of Texas
to account for it’s role in seeking the death warrant and to demand that
all the DNA be tested in this case.
Now is the time to get
involved in the struggle for justice and to save Rodney Reed! We have
seen to many times how innocent people are caught up by an unjust
system. People like Anthony Graves, released off death row after
years of struggling to prove his innocence, like Cameron Todd
Willingham, executed in Texas despite proof of his innocence revealed
long before his execution took place.
Or people like Yusef
Salaam, who was won his freedom decades after being wrongfully convicted
of rape in the infamous Central Park Jogger case in New York. Today
Yusef offered these words in support of Rodney, “My brother Rodney, like
too many others, has been railroaded onto death row by the racist
system of criminal injustice. Corruption and vengefulness has
turned Rodney’s life – and that of his family into a living nightmare,
one the thousands on death row know all too well – the innocent and
guilty alike. We must shout Rodney’s name from the rooftops: we will not
let the state of Texas take him from us!