Murder victim's family in last-ditch effort to save man convicted of killing her from execution...saying they believe 19-year-old was strangled to death by her cop fiancé

Rodney Reed is scheduled for execution on January 14, 2015 for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites, who he was allegedly dating at the time

However, Stites' family members believe it was actually her fiancé Jimmy Lewis Fennell Jr, a former police officer, who carried out the crime

Fennell is currently imprisoned for raping a woman while he was on duty in 2007, and has a noted history of misconduct and sexual assault 

He was never considered a suspect in the investigation, despite proving deceptive in a lie-detector test

At least one of Fennnell's sexual assault victims has publicly joined the effort to stop Reed's impending execution

Fennell's prison term ends in September 2018

Texas executes more death row prisoners than any other state; So far 10 have been put to death this year

Family members of a 19-year-old woman who was raped and murdered nearly two decades ago are now coming forward to voice their belief that the man about to be executed for her death is innocent.

Rodney Reed is scheduled to be put to death in January, after being found guilty for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, the engaged Giddings, Texas woman he was allegedly having an affair with at the time.

But dozens of family and friends of both Reed and the victim believe it was Stites' violent and controlling fiancé Jimmy Lewis Fennell, Jr, a former cop, who actually carried out the crime, and that he escaped suspicion due to a botched police investigation and rushed criminal trial.

Fennell is currently serving a 10-year sentence for raping a woman in 2007 while on duty in Georgetown, Texas. That victim has also joined the last-ditch effort to save Reed before it's too late.

'I just know he did [it],' Stites' cousin Judy Mitchell told The Intercept. 'We’ve got to do something to stop this execution.,'

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Innocent? Rodney Reed (left) is scheduled to be executed on January 14, 2015, for the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Stacey Stites (right), a woman he was allegedly having an affair with at the time. Dozens of Stites' family members are now coming forward to say they believe Reed is innocent

Mitchell is part of a group that is sending outgoing Texas Governor Rick Perry a letter to stall the execution so that the case can be reviewed. 

'We have to stand up and say, look, there are too many questions to execute a man without them all being answered,' she added. 

Texas executes more death row prisons than any other state, by a wide margin. In 2014 alone, 10 capital convicts have been put to death.  

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2839595/Murder-victim-s-family-ditch-effort-save-man-convicted-killing-execution-saying-believe-19-year-old-strangled-death-cop-fianc.html