Texas death row inmate to get Supreme Court review

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed, who claims untested crime-scene evidence will help clear him. Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. Prosecutors say Reed raped and strangled Stites as she made her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, a rural community near Austin. The justices will take up the case in the fall. The issue is whether Reed waited too long to ask for DNA testing of items recovered from and near Stiles’ body and elsewhere. His supporters have included Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey, as well as lawmakers from both parties.