"Rodney Reed to be back in court for hearing on execution date," is by Chuck Lindell in today's Austin American-Statesman.
Death row inmate Rodney Reed will return to a Bastrop court Monday for a hearing to set his execution date.
Prosecutors will ask visiting Judge Doug Shaver to issue a death warrant scheduling a Nov. 19 lethal injection for Reed, convicted of capital murder in the 1996 rape and strangulation of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old who died 18 days before her wedding.
And:
During Monday’s hearing in Bastrop, defense lawyers and prosecutors with the Texas attorney general’s office are expected to present a joint motion calling for DNA testing on rape kit evidence and several hairs collected from Stites’ body.
Benjet said he also plans to submit a second request, opposed by prosecutors, for additional DNA tests on the murder weapon — Stites’ belt, which was broken in half during the attack — her clothing and other evidence that must have come into contact with the attacker.
Some of the items have not been tested, while others were tested before modern practices were developed that can find, and identify, skin cells and other sources of DNA, Benjet said.
Earlier coverage of the Bastrop County case begins at the link. All coverage is in the Rodney Reed category index.
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