An Oklahoma appeals court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction of death row inmate Richard Glossip, paving the way for Glossip to be executed on May 18, despite the state attorney general’s concerns about some testimony and evidence.
Glossip can still plead his case for clemency to the five-member Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, which could recommend that the governor spare Glossip’s life by commuting his sentence to life in prison without parole.
Glossip, now 60, has long maintained his innocence in the 1997 murder-for-hire killing of his former boss, Barry Van Treese, who owned the Best Budget Inn where Glossip worked as the manager. The motel’s handyman, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing Van Treese and beating him to death with a baseball bat, but claims he did so only after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000 to do it.
Sneed, who ended up getting life in prison, was the key witness in two separate murder trials for Glossip, both of which ended in a conviction and death sentence.
Earlier this month, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond urged the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to throw out Glossip’s conviction because he says Sneed lied to the jury about his mental health and drug use. Drummond said in his filing that Sneed’s misstatements, when combined with other problems in the case including the destruction of evidence, warrant a new trial.
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"This is not to say I believe (Glossip) is innocent," Drummond said in a statement at the time. "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."
Glossip has been scheduled for execution before and three separate times came within hours of being put to death.
One of his scheduled executions was halted in September 2015 when prison officials realized they had received the wrong lethal drug, a mix-up that helped prompt a nearly seven-year moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma.
Glossip’s case attracted international attention after actress Susan Sarandon — who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean in the 1995 movie "Dead Man Walking" — took up his cause in real life. Prejean herself has served as Glossip’s spiritual adviser and frequently visited him in prison. His case also was featured in the 2017 documentary movie "Killing Richard Glossip."
