Days after new judge is assigned, Rodney Reed's lawyers file motion to withdraw him, assign new judge
BASTROP COUNTY, Texas - Rodney Reed's attorneys have filed a motion to withdraw the assignment order of the judge recently asked to hear his case in Bastrop County.
The motion asks Judge Olen Underwood to "withdraw the Order of Assignment by the Presiding Judge assigning the Honorable J.D. Langley to the 21st Judicial District Court beginning on November 21, 2019."
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Langley replaced Judge Doug Shaver who was originally assigned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals when the Court granted a stay of execution in Reed's case.
On Thursday, Nov. 21, Underwood assigned visiting judge J.D. Langley to hear Reed's case, which the motion says was invalid.
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The motion says Underwood should withdraw the order assigning Langley and allow the case to be heard by the "duly elected 21st District Court Judge" Carson Campbell.
Reed was sentenced to death in 1998 for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, who was strangled and left on a Bastrop County road. DNA recovered from her body matched Reed, whose attorneys claim was having a secret affair with Stites, explaining the DNA match.
Reed has always maintained his innocence.
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Reed's case has drawn the support of celebrities such as Kim Kardashian West, actress/activist Alyssa Milano, singers Rihanna, Meek Mill and Beyoncé and presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris.
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Reed's execution date was set for November 20.