Kim Kardashian’s appearance on The Real revealed many aspects of her life but the businesswoman made sure to bring more attention to the upcoming execution of Rodney Reed.
After calling for her millions of fans to defend the 51-year-old via an online petition, the mother of four joined the ladies of The Real to share her thoughts on the matter. Reed was put on death row after he was convicted for the murder of Stacey Stites on April 23, 1996. According to NBC News, Reed “strangled and killed” 20-year-old Stites “during an aggravated sexual assault.” Reed, who was in a consensual affair with Stites at the time, has maintained his innocence.
His attorneys have pointed to new evidence that can exonerate him, including a sworn affidavit by a fellow inmate implicating another man (Stites fiancé Jimmy Fennell). Since Reed’s case was brought to light last week, many celebrities like Rihanna, Meek Mill, Lakeith Stanfield and Kardashian have demanded Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to stop Reed’s execution.
“Rodney Reed has been in prison for decades (almost 25 years),” Kardashian said Tuesday (Nov. 5). “There’s even a possibility that someone can be innocent and they are on death row… he’s going to be executed in less than 30 days. If there’s even a possibility that he can be innocent, there’s a problem.”
So far, over a million people have signed the online petition. Elsewhere in the interview, Kardashian spoke on her efforts in prison reform. The 39-year-old detailed the inner workings of her efforts that have freed former inmates like Alice Johnson. As Kardashian studies to become a lawyer, she revealed how she and her team have freed upwards of 30 people.
“I think it’s been in the 30s range but everything is different,” she said. “Sometimes it can just be that I fund a great group of attorneys that work on this full time and people just need the funds to file their paperwork, I’d say that’s about half of them. The other is half is like calling the White House, calling governors, going to visit governors. writing letters for commutation to the parole board.”
Reed’s execution is scheduled for Nov. 20. Learn more about his case here.