Rodney Reed speaks to FOX 7 about stay of execution

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - FOX 7 News spoke face-to-face with convicted murderer Rodney Reed on death row Wednesday.

He was set to die next week for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites but on Monday, the court of criminal appeals temporarily spared his life.

Reed was set to be transferred to the unit from the Polunsky Unit in Livingston to be put to death on March 5th. He remains on death row where he has been for the past 17 years.

From behind glass, Reed told FOX 7 reporter Noelle Newton that this time last week he had just filled out paperwork as to who he wanted to be in the room during his execution.

Though the court of criminal appeals has agreed to look over new evidence brought forth by Reed's attorneys, Reed is not entirely positive that he will be exonerated. But he says he did not commit the crime.

"I know the killer is still out there or locked up. In regards to Stacey, I feel like her family has not been told the truth about this and they've been and I know there's members of the family that feel the opposite against me, that's not right. They've been denied justice and to carry on, I mean. If they understood evidence, all the elements in this case they'd know the truth," Reed said.

Reed says he and Stites were romantically involved for six months. She was engaged to Jimmy Fennell at the time who is now also in prison for sexually assaulting a woman while she was in his custody as a Georgetown police officer.

"She told me Jimmy would kill her if he found out prior to that he told me that I was going to pay," Reed said in regards to Fennell.

Reed's attorney with the Innocence Project says the troubling part to all of this are Reed's other criminal charges.

He was indicted for two sex assaults in Bastrop County where DNA was present. One victim was 12-years-old.

There were two other allegations where DNA was also present but no charges were filed in one case and the other case was ruled out.

Reed was charged with sex assault in 1987, but a jury found him not guilty.

It's all of those cases that Reed's attorney says have kept Reed from winning an appeal.