English Fury
  • Students
  • Parents
  • MixedInk
  • Contact Us

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

11/17/2019

 
Picture
In 1996, Rodney Reed, 51, was found guilty of the abduction, rape and murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas. On November 17th, an appeals court made the decision not to execute him. 

For decades, Reed has maintained his innocence. He, and many other people who can support his truth, say that Reed and Stites were having an affair, and that she was killed by her fiance because that affair was with a black man. Stites, who is white, was afraid of and abused by her husband according to several witnesses at the time.

Her fiance, Jimmy Fennell, was a police officer with a history of violence against women. After Stites's murder, Fennell kidnapped a woman and sexually assaulted her while on duty as a police officer. He was arrested, but while in prison, bragged about killing his "n***r loving fiance," and at her funeral bragged, "she got what she deserved." Even his friend and fellow police officer admitted that Fennell gave him inconsistent accounts of his whereabouts during the time of Stites's murder. Renowned forensic pathologists all concluded that Reed’s guilt is medically and scientifically impossible.

Six months after Stites was killed, Reed had been arrested and charged with the kidnapping, beating and attempted rape and murder of two other women. However, he was not prosecuted in either of these attempted rape cases. But somehow, the all white jury felt they had enough evidence to convict Reed.

Now, decades later, supporters from around the country were begging his pardon. Probably the most profound plea came from Congressman Michael McCaul in a letter to Governor Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole.

“A death sentence is final, and given the doubt surrounding his innocence at this time, I believe our state cannot execute Mr. Reed in good conscience,” he wrote. Without a date of execution looming, Reed will now await his retrial.

Read the blog post above in its entirety. Then, comment intelligently, academically and with fidelity on the following: Had no one stepped up to challenge the law, Rodney Reed would have died today, probably innocent of the charge he was convicted of. Think about that. Does the government have the right to decide who lives and who dies?

1. INCLUDE: First initial AND last name AND class period.

2. Respond in no more than 10 sentences and no less than five.


3. You MUST respond to at least TWO other posts from any student.

4. Make sure your reply addresses the comment you're replying to. Stay on topic.

5. No identical comments on different posts (i.e., "I agree" or "I disagree"). Such comments will earn you a zero.


CAUTION!! Do NOT embarrass me, yourself, your class, the English department, the school, your family or your upbringing with tasteless, meaningless comments. This is for a grade.

DISCLAIMER: If you do not respond AND comment on TWO others, you will not receive credit for this assignment. It's all or nothing.

WARNING: If you post even one second past midnight, your comment might appear to be posted, but as soon as it is opened to be graded, it will automatically delete.


Due Friday, November 22, 2019 11:59 p.m. CST​​​

If you would like to submit a topic for discussion, submit it here.
L.Johnson
11/22/2019 09:18:41 am

I don’t think the government should have the right to determine who lives and who dies. That’s what you have a justice system is for. If you really think about it the justice system is controlled by the government. It’s really hard to get the right type of justice when your minority. The government shouldn’t have control but they do.

C Taylor
11/22/2019 01:21:19 pm

I totally agree because this government work how they want to work . Also, they pick an choose who they want to serve justice for an who don't get justice.

E Tyson 1st period
11/22/2019 02:43:09 pm

Yeah I agree with you the government shouldn’t have the power to decide who lives and who dies. The justice system is already corrupt towards colored people. like they preach equal right but nothing is equal

Taylor-Marie Lee
11/22/2019 11:29:50 pm

I agree with you; us minorities, specifically African Americans are the target in the world that we live in today. Every little thing that we do, we are getting watch. The minute something goes wrong that government jumps on African Americans and do anything to put us away.

D.E 2nd
11/22/2019 09:36:51 am

Yes, because we do have serial killers that live by a code and kill people as they please. It’s never okay to kill unless it self defense or protecting your family. As far as rapist or kidnappers they should be put on the death penalty there’s no explanation behind you doing so a drastic thing to such a human being. But I do feel as if you got have solid proof to just put a person on death row. As far as I know most of the people on death row belong on death row. People that do stuff with bad intentions you deserve to be on death row there’s no way around. When you know what you have done was wrong accept your fate and deal with it.

C Taylor
11/22/2019 01:23:37 pm

I disagree because the serial killers have life's an live ones also . So just because they killed somebody or kidnapped somebody doesn't they life to be taken away from the people who love them .

L.Johnson
11/22/2019 05:58:10 pm

I disagree just a little bit because I feel like some people that get death row doesn’t deserve to be on there. People that do bad stuff should pay for it, but I don’t feel like the government should control that.

Taylor-Marie Lee
11/22/2019 11:33:40 pm

Although I disagreed with the question; this made me agree 100 percent. If you take a life for no reason art then you should lose yours. If you’re raped someone or kidnapped someone then you should be put away for a long period of time or be put on Death Row. I know that it may sound cruel but think about if you were in the victims shoes.

C.Taylor
11/22/2019 01:19:24 pm

No because no matter what the crimes is nobody life should be taken for a mistake that they did . A judge should determine when a person live and when a person dies , I believe that the person should get more jails . I mean being alone in a cell make people think about what they did wrong an most people change over the time .

E Tyson 1st pd
11/22/2019 02:49:25 pm

I agree with you, no matter the crime taking somebody life shouldn’t be the way you deal with it. Make the person who did it suffer not with physical abuse but mental abuse.

L.Johnson
11/22/2019 06:00:25 pm

Yes I agree with you. A judge shouldn’t that doesn’t know anything but your “ criminal” history determines if you should live or die. Everybody makes mistakes. Some mistakes are just worst than others.

E Tyson 1st period
11/22/2019 02:37:50 pm

Yes they have the right to kill people but I think they shouldn’t. How can we as people have control on who lives and who dies life is priceless. Even though some people need to be punished for there actions I don’t think death always have to be the punishment.

Taylor-Marie Lee
11/22/2019 11:26:07 pm

I believe that the government shouldn’t decide wether or not you live. I say this because the justice system is not equal towards people of color. As we’ve seen in the past a white woman got away with killing and abandoning her newborn child; while a black man got 25+ years for killing a police dog. I’m not saying that the justice system is always like that but most of the time it is or it is vice versa.


Comments are closed.

    Mixed Ink

    Mixed Ink is our class blog, the window into our souls. It was designed to improve students' writing, critical thinking and communication skills by giving them a platform to provide meaningful content based on their interpretation of what they see.

    Although the students receive a grade based on a rubric for completing this assignment, they are not graded on complexity of thought. This is a place where students of all levels can freely, confidently and creatively express themselves and their opinions in a nonjudgmental platform. They are required to respond to and critique each other, but degradation, slander, lewdness, etc., will not be tolerated. 

    Bridge Builders

    All subjects are vital to learning, but  English is the bridge of communication. So let's build the arch, one word at a time...


    Grading Rubric


    Learning Objectives
    • Communicate effectively
    • Be aware of current events
    • Write concisely
    • Boost critical thinking skills
    • Be accountable
    • Follow directions
    • Have a voice about what goes on in the world around you

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012


    Copyright Disclaimer
    Creative Commons License
    This blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be made available by contacting [email protected].

    Categories

    All
    Class Period

    RSS Feed

©2012-2024 English Fury. All rights reserved in all media. English Fury is a registered trademark owned by thawriter.biz. No part of the contents of this website can be reproduced without the express written consent of thawriter.biz.