Oklahoma Seeks to Vacate Richard Glossip’s Conviction After Trying to Execute Him

Oklahoma’s lawyer basic has filed a movement to overturn the capital homicide conviction of Richard Glossip, who has spent nearly 26 years on dying row. The transfer comes after the discharge of a brand new report detailing appreciable points within the state’s case towards Glossip, concluding that he was “disadvantaged of a good trial.”

Richard Glossip was convicted in 1998 for the homicide of his boss, Barry Van Treese, the 12 months prior. One other man, Justin Sneed, had confessed to the homicide, however testified throughout Glossip’s trial that he killed Van Treese in a murder-for-hire scheme arrange by Glossip. In trade for his testimony towards Glossip, Sneed averted the dying penalty and acquired a life sentence.

Cracks within the case towards Glossip—who has lengthy claimed innocence—started to point out quickly after his conviction. Particularly, Sneed’s testimony towards him was the one direct proof tying Glossip to the homicide.

In 2001, an Oklahoma courtroom overturned Glossip’s conviction, writing that “the proof at trial tending to corroborate Sneed’s testimony was extraordinarily weak.” Nonetheless, in 2004, one other jury but once more convicted Glossip of homicide, sentencing him to dying. Through the years, Glossip has acquired 4 separate stays of execution.

In 2021, a bunch of over 30 lawmakers requested an impartial investigation into Glossip’s case. When the 343-page report was launched in 2022, it revealed that the state had deliberately destroyed proof earlier than Glossip’s trial and “uncovered police contamination of the state’s star witness, Justin Sneed, the precise killer, who implicated Glossip solely after the detectives talked about Glossip’s title to Sneed six occasions throughout his interrogation.” Most damning of all, the investigation “uncovered extra proof, by no means offered to the jury or to any courtroom, that may probably have led to a distinct final result within the case within the estimation of the Reed Smith crew.”

On Thursday, Oklahoma Legal professional Common Gentner Drummond introduced that he had filed a movement to vacate Glossip’s conviction. The event comes simply three days after the conclusion of one other impartial investigation into Glossip’s case—this one ordered by Drummond himself in January.

“After thorough and severe deliberation, I’ve concluded that I can not stand behind the homicide conviction and dying sentence of Richard Glossip,” Drummond mentioned in a Thursday press launch. “This isn’t to say I imagine he’s harmless. Nonetheless, it’s essential that Oklahomans have absolute religion that the dying penalty is run pretty and with certainty. Contemplating all the pieces I learn about this case, I don’t imagine that justice is served by executing a person primarily based on the testimony of a compromised witness.”

The lawyer basic “confirms in his report what now we have lengthy recognized: Richard Glossip’s conviction is unreliable and granting him a brand new trial is required,” wrote Don Knight, Glossip’s lawyer, in a press release.

Whereas it is a main victory for Glossip, his case ought to function a reminder of how typically dying row inmates are executed earlier than their circumstances get the reexaminations they deserve.