Reality star Kim Kardashian opened up about the moment Texas inmate Rodney Reed was granted a stay of execution.
Kardashian claimed Reed was “extremely emotional” when he heard the news on Monday’s episode of the “Today” show.
“When we got the news, it was just this overwhelming sigh of relief and hope that really filled the room,” Kardashian told Jenna Bush Hager during the interview. “It was emotional. It was extremely emotional, and he said, ‘Praise Jesus’ … I could just feel his soul when he said that.”
“When someone has been through so much trauma and so much disappointment in their life that, especially when they feel like they haven’t been heard, you can imagine still a sense of disbelief,” she said.
Reed was found guilty of raping and killing 19-year-old Stacey Stites in 1996 by an all-white jury. Kardashian has been working to shed light on new evidence that could potentially prove that Reed wasn’t guilty. (RELATED: Kim Kardashian Makes Push To Have Death Row Inmate Rodney Reed Released)
“It’s really important to him that the scientific evidence be brought and considered heavily,” Kardashian said.
Reed admitted to having a consensual relationship with Stites behind her fiancé Jimmy Fennell’s back before he was convicted, NBC News reported. Fennell eventually went to prison on different charges and a fellow inmate claimed the fiancé confessed to murdering Stites.
Reed’s execution was originally set for Wednesday, but the state parole board voted unanimously to delay the execution by 120 days on Friday.