That's the headline in today's Austin American-Statesman concerning a former law enforcement officer who is implicated in the Rodney Reed case. LINK
District Judge Burt Carnes on Tuesday denied a plea agreement that included two years in prison and 10 years of probation for former Georgetown police Sgt. Jimmy Fennell, who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman while he was on duty. The judge set the case for trial Sept. 8.
"I am going to reject this plea deal and set it for a jury trial," Carnes said to an emotionless Fennell. Carnes did not elaborate, nor did he return phone calls Tuesday evening.
Under the deal reached last month between prosecutors and Fennell's attorney, Fennell pleaded guilty to felony charges of kidnapping and sexual misconduct in connection with an Oct. 26 incident in which he was accused of raping an intoxicated woman while on duty. If Carnes had accepted the agreement, Fennell would have received a two-year prison sentence, 10 years probation and a $5,000 fine.
Fennell is charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, improper sexual activity with a person in custody and official oppression — all of which could exceed two 99-year terms if he is convicted by a jury.
And:
During Fennell's 13-year law enforcement career in Bastrop County, Giddings and Georgetown, he has been accused of beating up suspects, stalking and making false arrests, according to claims made in lawsuits, complaints to a former Lee County official and claims of a former girlfriend.
Before last fall's sexual assault allegations, Fennell had not been charged with a crime.
He was a suspect in the 1996 slaying of his fiancée, 19-year-old Stacey Stites. The case was out of Bastrop County when Fennell was a Giddings police officer, but investigators later ruled him out as a suspect.
The man convicted of Stites' murder is Rodney Reed, who was sentenced to death in 1998. Reed's case was heard by an appeals court in March for the third time since his conviction, but no rulings have been issued by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Reed's attorney, Bryce Benjet, said a trial for Fennell will help him argue that Fennell was capable of killing Stites.
"A trial is inevitably going to bring more information about Jimmy Fennell's character and we will definitely look into any piece of information that will be relevant to Rodney's case," he said.
Earlier coverage is in the Rodney Reed index.
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