I don't know if people realize that the attack on the 12-year-old girl, Rodney Reed is accused of sexually assaulting, happened 9 years before Stacey Stites was killed. And Rodney was only ever accused of it AFTER he was on trial for Stacey's murder.
There's a reason for that.
There's a reason for that.
That's because the ONLY way he could get the death penalty would be if the state showed "future dangerousness." And that would only be possible if they could show what are termed legally "prior bad acts," even if they were uncharged crimes.
As @helenprejean explains in this thread, the 12-year-old girl's case was never investigated and went cold for 10 years. That was until prosecutors decided they would test DNA evidence that had been stored in a police fridge all that time and it conveniently matched Rodney's.
Then, as now, there could be no more prejudicial accusation than the rape of a child.
Something horrific happened to that little girl & she should get justice, but justice is not never investigating her sexual assault & executing someone for a different crime they didn't commit
Something horrific happened to that little girl & she should get justice, but justice is not never investigating her sexual assault & executing someone for a different crime they didn't commit
