#RodneyReed has an appeal pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Prosecutors filed a legal brief in the case that's riddled with inaccuracies and other problems. Time for a fact check in this thread:
On page two of their brief, prosecutors wrote: "Stacey Stites was a happily engaged nineteen-year-old..." New evidence suggests that Stacey was not, in fact, happy with her engagement. One witness reports that Stacey said she was not excited to get married.
On page three of their brief, prosecutors wrote that sperm cells remain intact for no longer than 26 hours. This is false. Top forensic pathologists all agree that sperm cells can remain intact for up to 72 hours. This completely upends the state's theory of the case.
On page four of their brief, prosecutors wrote that medical examiner Dr. Roberto Bayardo estimated that Stacey Stites died at 3 am. They conveniently failed to mention that Dr. Bayardo has recanted this testimony and that other experts concluded that Stacey died hours earlier.
Also on page four of their brief, prosecutors wrote that Dr. Bayardo concluded that sperm cells found inside Stacey Stites were deposited "quite recently." They again failed to mention that Dr. Bayardo has recanted this testimony and that other experts contradict this conclusion.
On page six of their brief, prosecutors seem to indicate that the police investigation of Jimmy Fennell was thorough. Decidedly not accurate. They fail to mention that Fennell failed two polygraph exams when asked if he murdered Stacey Stites and police let him go anyway.
On pages seven through nine of their brief, prosecutors throw out allegations and rumors that Rodney Reed committed other crimes. Don't be fooled – Rodney Reed was never convicted of any of these crimes. He was actually found NOT GUILTY in the one case that went to trial.
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