Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ Pressure is mounting to stop Rodney Reed's execution.

There are also multiple appeals in the courts.

But Reed — who's guilt is questioned — is still set to die on Wednesday. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

2/ Reed, now 51, has been on death row for more than 20 years after being convicted in the 1996 Bastrop murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites.

His guilt in the murder has always been shrouded in doubt. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

3/ Reed's attorneys have filed multiple late appeals with evidence they say further emphasizes their long-standing argument.

They argue that Reed is innocent in Stites’ murder and evidence instead implicates her fiancé, Jimmy Fennell. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

4/ Stites’ body was found partially unclothed hours after she missed an early morning shift at a grocery store, according to court records.

Fennell’s truck was found abandoned in a nearby school parking lot. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

5/ About a year after the murder, DNA from sperm cells found inside Stites matched to Reed, making him the prime suspect.

He was also indicted, but never convicted, in other rape cases. Reed has argued he and Stites had a consensual affair. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

6/ Reed's lawyers say his claim was doubted largely because he was a black man in rural Texas, and Stites was white.

Reed was tried by an all-white jury. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

7/ Stites’ family and Bastrop County prosecutors say they remain certain Reed is guilty, saying he was a serial rapist who stopped Stites on her way to work, raped her and then killed her. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

8/ But in the years since his conviction, Reed, represented by the Innocence Project, has brought forth mountains of new witnesses and reexamined forensic evidence he claims prove his innocence. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

9/ Pathologists have said Stites was killed before the time Fennell said she left their home for work, when she was alone with him. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

10/ Experts whose testimony prosecutors used to argue that Reed’s sperm was a result of sexual assault just before the murder have also come forward, saying the sperm could have been from days before. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

11/ Reed’s lawyers have also, as recently as this week, brought forward more witnesses who have corroborated Reed’s claim that he and Stites were in a relationship. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

12/ And in 2007, Fennell was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he kidnapped and allegedly raped a woman while on duty as a police officer.

One man said Fennell confessed to him that he killed Stites while they were in prison together. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

13/ Fennell’s lawyer, Robert Phillips, has laughed off these new, 11th hour witnesses, saying they pale in comparison to the evidence against Reed. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

14/ But as of Thursday night, more than half of the Texas Senate, at least 45 state House members and several congressmen from Texas have publicly asked to stop Reed’s upcoming death. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

15/ Millions of people have signed online petitions.

And an ever-rising number of celebrities — like Beyoncé, Oprah and Kim Kardashian — have voiced support for Reed. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

16/ On Thursday, Reed had appeals pending in the trial court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, federal district court and the U.S. Supreme Court. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege

17/ On his own, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the power to delay Reed’s execution for 30 days.

With a recommendation from the parole board, however, the governor can approve a longer stay of execution or change Reed’s death sentence to one of life in prison. bit.ly/357Yd1E

18/18 During Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's tenure, which began in 2015, he has changed one condemned man's sentence to life after a unanimous vote by the parole board.

Forty-eight men have been executed. bit.ly/357Yd1E #txlege