![As Rodney Reed fights death sentence in 1996 murder, man who defense claims is the real killer takes stand](https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2019/11/16/ae3bdff5-67d4-497d-b912-9fa5c7d47610/thumbnail/1200x630/a4183b3755b403b3904c5071fd03385b/800.jpg)
As Rodney Reed fights death sentence in 1996 murder, man who defense claims is the real killer takes stand
CBSN
Lawyers for Rodney Reed, a Black man who maintains he was wrongfully convicted in the 1996 murder of a White woman, called a man they claim is the victim's real killer to testify during an evidence hearing on Thursday.
Reed has spent decades on death row after he was sentenced to die in the murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites in Bastrop, Texas, but the state's highest court issued a stay days before his scheduled execution in November of 2019. As his execution date loomed, the case gained national attention. Nearly 3 million people signed a petition urging clemency and high-profile figures such as Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna, Beyonce, Meek Mill and Oprah voiced support for Reed. The Court of Criminal Appeals remanded the case back to the trial court to weigh whether Reed deserves a new trial.![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214202746.jpg)
Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
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Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
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It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.