Death Penalty and DNA Testing

On March 23, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Rodney Reed’s appeal seeking DNA testing of a webbed belt, leaving in place the 5th Circuit’s restrictive reading of Texas’s post‑conviction DNA‑testing law for the second time in less than three years; three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sotomayor calling prosecutors’ refusal to permit testing “inexplicable,” noting the state controlled the belt’s handling even as Texas courts treat some items as too “contaminated” to qualify for testing and prosecutors have refused testing despite Reed’s offer to pay. Reed continues to insist Stacey Stites’ fiancé, former officer Jimmy Fennell — who denies the allegation and has a prior sexual‑assault conviction — was the real killer, and absent further state relief or clemency Texas may move closer to scheduling his execution despite unresolved DNA questions.