Everyone on Death Row Gets a Lawyer. Not Everyone Gets a Kim Kardashian.
W hen death row prisoner Rodney Reed found out his execution had been called off — only days before it was to occur — he was sitting in a tiny visiting room at an East Texas maximum-security prison, talking to Kim Kardashian West.
The reality TV star had traveled to the Polunsky Unit, an hour northeast of Houston, to visit the condemned man whose cause she’d taken up, repeatedly posting photos and firing off tweets in support of his claims of innocence. By the time the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the execution in November 2019, Reed’s case had attracted other celebrity supporters — from Beyoncé and Dr. Phil, to Oprah and Gigi Hadid.
Two years later, Reed is finally getting a hearing next week, where his lawyers plan to present new evidence they say shows Reed played no part in the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, and that he deserves a new trial.
Whatever attention the hearing attracts, Reed’s case continues to be a touchstone in the debate over the role celebrities and publicity have come to play in the American justice system, especially in the death penalty. The visibility of superstar involvement has only seemed to grow in recent years, as social media gives celebrities an outsized voice and Americans’ support for the death penalty wanes.
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