Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

Mother’s Fight For Justice

By Eddie D. Gillis

Willie Mae Reed Clinton is a mother who strongly believes that her son is serving the sentence of another man. Clinton’s son Stanley Leroy Reed has been in prison for eleven years, part of an original twenty-eight year sentence that his lawyer argued was excessive and unconstitutional. It all began years ago when Reed was tried and convicted of Attempted Second Degree Murder when he confronted his wife allegedly in their bedroom with another man. Reed’s attorney argued that he was understandably upset with what he saw, and acted in a manner that any normal man would have upon confronting his wife in bed with another man. Upon his arrest and conviction, Reed was transferred to jail while awaiting appeals from his attorney. All of his appeals failed. However, there is a strange twist to Reed’s predicament. Another individual believed to be named Stanley Reed may have been involved in a crime where law enforcement got the two men mixed up in the judicial system. The alleged individual who Willie Clinton believes is at the heart of the matter is Stanley LEE Reed, while her son’s middle name is Leroy. Clinton says that the family has tried to contact prison officials where her son is incarcerated, but to no avail. She even said that family members went to the prison facility, but were unable to see her son.

Before Stanley Leroy Reed’s legal troubles began, his mother said that he was well liked in the community, and that he did not have a police record. She believes as did his attorney, that her son was “caught up” in a moment when passions were high because of what he had just witnessed. Nevertheless, when Clinton learned of her son’s predicament, she convinced him to surrender to the police, because they allegedly put out a report that he was armed with a machete that was not true. Clinton believes that had she not convinced her son to surrender, he may have been killed. Clinton agrees with her son that with no criminal history, that a sentence of no more than eight years of confinement was warranted based on the circumstances of his case. Clinton believes that there is only one way to right a wrong that her son is paying a price for, is to “know” who Stanley Lee Reed really is.

Who is Stanley Lee Reed? Clinton would like to know because she believes that if the proper authorities “are all about justice”, they would look into the situation. She wants to know if the man who perhaps should be serving the sentence that her son is under, is in prison or dead. She has seen conflicting evidence that leads her to believe that her son, Stanley and the man, who seems to be a mystery, are indeed two different people. She doesn’t believe that it is a simple mix up in their names, that if a “mistake” was made, prison officials should correct it. She is hoping that someone, anyone with information about Stanley Lee Reed, not Stanley Leroy Reed would come forward. Clinton said that she talked with her son just recently, which gives her hope that one day soon, Stanley Leroy Reed will return home to his family. She said that she will contact the local NAACP for any kind of assistance that they can render, to bring some kind of closure to this situation, in an effort to clear her son’s name.

Photo Stanley Leroy Reed