Oklahoma — Oklahoma’s top prosecutor announced Monday that the state intends to pursue a new murder trial against Richard Glossip without the death penalty after the United States Supreme Court vacated his capital conviction in a rare victory for a death row inmate.
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s decision to retry Glossip, 62, on a first-degree murder charge stemmed from a status conference hearing.
Drummond stated in a news release that the evidence continues to implicate Glossip in the 1997 murder of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese.
Glossip, a motel manager for Van Treese, has maintained his innocence on death row for nearly three decades.
While Drummond, a Republican, does not agree with Glossip’s innocence claims, he supported the Supreme Court’s ruling in February, when the majority of justices agreed, as Drummond put it, that “it is now an undeniable fact that he did not receive a fair trial.”
Drummond stated on Monday that he would ensure that Glossip receives an impartial trial.
“While it was clear to me and to the U.S. Supreme Court that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial, I have never proclaimed his innocence,” Drummond wrote in an email.
“After the high court remanded the matter back to district court, my office thoroughly reviewed the merits of the case against Richard Glossip and concluded that sufficient evidence exists to secure a murder conviction.”
Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, a Democrat, previously stated that Glossip would not be eligible for the death penalty if he were retried.
Drummond stated that he would seek a life sentence for Glossip during his next trial.
“While I cannot go back 25 years and handle the case in the proper way that would have ensured true justice, I still have a duty to seek the justice that is available today,” according to him.
The state’s prosecution of Glossip resumes a twisting case in which he escaped death nine times due to postponed execution dates.
Various courts postponed the executions while he appealed, and state corrections officials came under fire a decade ago for botched executions.
However, Glossip’s case has been championed in recent years by a bipartisan group of Oklahoma legislators after an independent report commissioned in 2022 found that “no reasonable jury hearing the complete record would convict Glossip of first-degree murder.”
The report focused on Justin Sneed, the state’s primary witness, who admitted to the report’s investigators that he had discussions with multiple family members about “recanting” his testimony over an 11-year period.
Investigators also stated that the district attorney’s case file contained documentation describing how the state provided Sneed with information “so he could conform his testimony to match the evidence” from other witnesses.
Glossip’s original 1998 conviction was overturned in 2001, after a state appeals court determined that the evidence against him was insufficient. However, the state tried him again, and a second jury convicted him in 2004.
At Glossip’s trial, Sneed, a motel handyman, admitted to killing Van Treese, but claimed that he did so at Glossip’s direction and was promised $10,000. In exchange for testifying against Glossip, Sneed received a life sentence, while Glossip received the death penalty.
Prosecutors claimed Glossip orchestrated the plot because he was embezzling from the motel and feared being fired.
In a 5-3 decision on Monday, the Supreme Court overturned Glossip’s capital punishment conviction. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate, presumably because he was involved in the case while serving on a federal appeals court that included Oklahoma.
In the majority’s decision, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that prosecutors “knew Sneed’s statements were false” and that “because Sneed’s testimony was the only direct evidence of Glossip’s guilt of capital murder, the jury’s assessment of Sneed’s credibility was necessarily determinative here.”
“Hence, there is a reasonable likelihood that correcting Sneed’s testimony would have affected the judgment of the jury,” according to her.
Glossip was released from death row following the Supreme Court’s decision, but he was still being held without bail in the Oklahoma County Detention Center on a first-degree murder charge.
The next court date in Glossip’s case is scheduled for June 17.
Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, did not immediately respond to the prosecutors’ decision, but he welcomed the Supreme Court’s February ruling that spared his longtime client from the death penalty.
“He had nine execution dates, three last meals, and obviously, to finally get relief has been huge for him,” Knight told me, “and he’s thrilled beyond words.”
