Oklahoma AG Now Admits Death Row Prisoner who Survived Nine (9) Execution Dates Should Receive a New Trial

From [HERE] Richard Glossip has consistently maintained his innocence while on death row for the last 25 years. Last week Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond acknowledged that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial.

Citing evidence of serious prosecutorial misconduct revealed by an independent review of Mr. Glossip’s case, Attorney General Drummond asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to call off Mr. Glossip’s execution, vacate his conviction, and grant him a new trial.

Mr. Glossip was convicted in 2004 for his alleged role in the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese, the owner of a motel where Mr. Glossip worked. No physical evidence linked Mr. Glossip to the crime and he has maintained his innocence.

The independent review found that the state repeatedly failed to provide—and even destroyed—substantial evidence in the case. The case against Mr. Glossip centered around the testimony of then 19-year-old Justin Sneed, but the review revealed that Mr. Sneed had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed lithium while in jail. In his testimony he denied ever seeing a psychiatrist and Mr. Glossip’s attorneys were not made aware of his condition.

“The state’s murder case against Glossip was not particularly strong and would have been, in my view, weaker if full discovery had been provided,” Rex Duncan, the appointed counsel who reviewed the case, wrote.

Since 2004, Mr. Glossip, who is now 60, has been scheduled for execution nine times and has on more than one occasion come within hours of being put to death only to be granted a temporary stay. He has been served three final meals.

In 2015, in the case of Glossip v. Gross, the United States Supreme Court rejected his challenge to the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol, permitting the state to execute him.

“It is critical that Oklahomans have absolute faith that the death penalty is administered fairly and with certainty,” Attorney General Drummond wrote in his motion. “Considering everything I know about this case, I do not believe that justice is served by executing a man based on the testimony of a compromised witness,” he added.

Mr. Glossip remains scheduled for execution on May 18 as he awaits a ruling from the district court following Attorney General Drummond’s motion to vacate his sentence.