Brazos County senior district judge J.D. Langley has been assigned to hear the hear the appeal of death row inmate Rodney Reed.
Reed’s execution for the 1996 killing of a Bastrop woman, which was scheduled to take place Wednesday, was blocked last week by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Langley has served around the state as a senior judge since retiring as the 85th district court judge in 2014.
From the Associated Press:
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A new judge has been assigned to death row inmate Rodney Reed’s case a week after Texas’ highest criminal court canceled his execution scheduled this month.
The Austin American-Statesmen reports that Judge Olen Underwood removed visiting Judge Doug Shaver on Thursday. Underwood assigned retired Judge J.D. Langley to replace Shaver, who is to retire.
Reed’s attorneys argued Shaver, who asked to have his name removed from the list of judges who receive assignments, did not have authority over the case.
The replacement comes one week after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals blocked Reed’s Nov. 20 punishment. He was to be executed for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacy Stites near Bastrop, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Austin.
New evidence prompted legislators and others to mount a social media push to stop Reed’s execution.