As a former prosecutor, I am profoundly disturbed by the lack of evidence used to convict Mr.
Reed for the murder of Stacy Stites and the mounting evidence that implicates another person of
interest, Jimmy Fennell, Ms. Stites’ fiancé and a police officer at the time of the murder.
Among the glaring injustices involved in this case are the refusal to test the murder weapon for
DNA and the conviction of Mr. Reed by an all-white jury. Furthermore, in an eleventh-hour
development, Arthur J. Snow, a former member of the Aryan Brotherhood, has revealed that Mr.
Fennell confessed to the murder of Ms. Stites. Given all of these issues, justice demands that Mr.
Reed be granted a reprieve to allow for a full investigation.
I commend all those who have engaged on this case in support of a reprieve to preclude the
possibility of executing an innocent man. As troubling questions still linger in the case of Cameron
Todd Willingham, we should be loath to carry out another execution clouded by uncertainty.