Justice Clarence Thomas OK With Death Row Inmate Being Executed Before DNA Lawsuit Concludes

The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in a 6-3 split decision that death row inmate Rodney Reed should get the chance to DNA test crime scene evidence. Of the three dissenters, only embattled conservative judge Clarence Thomas argued that Reed could still be executed, despite the DNA claim.

The meat of Reed’s due process claimed concerns when the legal clock started running on Reed’s claim. Reed was denied by Texas state and appellate courts the ability to DNA test specific evidence saying he was too late. 

Reed’s legal team argued that the clock shouldn’t run until the state appeal is resolved. Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote for the majority, said that if the clock started running with the state denial, people would raise federal claims while still appealing at the state level. 

The decision reversed the appellate court’s decision and sent the claim back to the lower courts for Reed to challenge the state law on DNA testing. 

Of the three judges that dissented, Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch mostly disagreed with the majority on when the clock should start running. Thomas, however, argued that Reed shouldn’t even raise a federal claim. 

MSNBC reported Jordan Rubin writes that Thomas didn’t stick to just the issue at hand. Instead, he wrote a 20-page rebuttal noting that there were no barriers to Reed’s execution.

“If there is a mitigating factor to today’s decision,” he wrote, the outcome “is no barrier to the prompt execution of Reed’s lawful sentence.”

Reed was sentenced to death in 1998 for the murder of Stacey Stites. Prosecutors argued that Reed raped and killed Stites while she was on her way to work. Reed has maintained his innocence and instead blamed Stites’ fiancee, former police officer Jimmy Fennell. He believes that Fennell was angry over Stites, who was white, having an affair with Reed, who is Black. 

The case has attracted the attention of high-profile celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, and Beyonce. In addition to stars, Reed has drawn support from lawmakers and people across the globe.