Death penalty action

New trial for Richard Glossip in Oklahoma

March 2025

One of the issues with the death penalty is that mistakes cannot be rectified. Once someone has been executed, they cannot be brought back to life. The case of Richard Glossip has shown that flaws in the legal process can deliver poor justice. The Supreme Court’s decision to vacate his death sentence is welcome news and the change of heart of some of the people involved is welcome.

Mr Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme.

The prosecution’s star witness was Glossip’s co-defendant, Justin Sneed, who admitted to robbing and killing Van Treese but testified he only did so after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000.  Mr Sneed was given a life sentence in exchange for testifying against Mr Glossip.  He had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and had been taking medication, but denied it during the trial.  Mr Glossip’s prosecutors knew the truth but did not correct the false evidence in the course of the trial. Mr Sneed later recanted his claim, Mr Glossip has always maintained his innocence and there was no physical evidence.

The US Supreme Court Ruling

On 25^th February, in a 5:3 decision, the US Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Mr Glossip because errors committed by prosecutors violated his constitutional rights, invoking the 14^th Amendment’s right to due process.

Response of Attorney General Gentner Drummond to US Supreme Court’s overturning of Richard Glossip’s Conviction

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s deci­sion to vacate Richard Glossip’s 2004 death sen­tence, pub­lic offi­cials and advo­cates have expressed strong reac­tions. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond acknowl­edged the sig­nif­i­cance of the rul­ing, stat­ing, ​“Our jus­tice sys­tem is great­ly dimin­ished when an indi­vid­ual is con­vict­ed with­out a fair tri­al, but today we can cel­e­brate that a great injus­tice has been swept away.”

While main­tain­ing his belief that Mr. Glossip is not inno­cent, AG Drummond empha­sized that ​“it is now an unde­ni­able fact that he did not receive a fair trial.”  He com­mit­ted to review­ing the high court’s rul­ing and deter­min­ing ​“the most appro­pri­ate course of action to ensure jus­tice is secured for all involved” and that he would work with Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna to deter­mine the next steps in Mr. Glossip’s case. ​“She and I will col­lab­o­rate togeth­er with our staffs and will review the evi­dence with fresh eyes and inter­view those wit­ness­es that would be avail­able to us to make a deter­mi­na­tion whether we should pro­ceed seek­ing again the death penal­ty, whether we should pro­ceed seek­ing life with­out the oppor­tu­ni­ty for parole, or if we should pro­ceed with a less­er charged crime.”

“Our jus­tice sys­tem is great­ly dimin­ished when an indi­vid­ual is con­vict­ed with­out a fair tri­al, but today we can cel­e­brate that a great injus­tice has been swept away.” (Source: Death Penalty Information Center)

Response of Don Knight, Mr Glossip’s Attorney

“We are thankful that a clear majority of the Court supports long-standing precedent that prosecutors cannot hide critical evidence from defense lawyers and cannot stand by while their witnesses knowingly lie to the jury.  Today was a victory for justice and fairness in our judicial system.  Rich Glossip, who has maintained his innocence for 27 years, will now be given the chance to have the fair trial that he has always been denied”.

Chair of Pardon & Parole Board speaking out against death penalty and the system in Oklahoma

Adam Luck, the for­mer Chairman of Oklahoma’s Board of Pardons and Parole and for­mer mem­ber of the Oklahoma Board of Corrections, is now speak­ing out against the death penal­ty in Oklahoma.  Explaining his change of heart, Mr. Luck cites to his first-hand expe­ri­ence with flaws in Oklahoma’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem, includ­ing botched exe­cu­tions, and his deep Christian faith. ​“Having the unique expe­ri­ence of vot­ing on the life of anoth­er human being forced me to con­sid­er the impli­ca­tions of my faith in ways I nev­er had before,” Mr. Luck said.

During his time as Chairman, Mr. Luck presided over clemen­cy hear­ings for five death row pris­on­ers, includ­ing Julius Jones and Bigler Stouffer, and sup­port­ed clemen­cy in each case.  He also points to the alarm­ing num­ber of death row exon­er­a­tions — at least 200 nation­al­ly, with 11 in Oklahoma alone — as evi­dence that the jus­tice sys­tem con­demns inno­cent peo­ple to death. ​“For a place that has more church­es per capi­ta than almost any oth­er place in the world, to also have a greater per­cent­age of its pop­u­la­tion behind prison walls than almost any place in the world inher­ent­ly holds some contradictions.”

“I am con­vinced that the death penal­ty is deeply flawed, I am com­mit­ted to work­ing towards end­ing it wher­ev­er it is still prac­ticed, and I believe con­ver­sa­tions with­in the Christian faith prac­tice will be crit­i­cal in mak­ing progress towards that end.”  

Action

Please write to Governor J Kevin Stitt expressing your delight at the good news that the US Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for Richard Glossip, and the hope that he will now receive justice.

Please also express concern at the miscarriage of justice which has resulted in his spending over 20 years on death row, highlighting in addition the recent statement by the former Chair of the Pardon & Parole Board regarding the death penalty itself and the serious problems with its use in Oklahoma.

You may like to include the hope that the investigations that will now be conducted might result in the conclusion that Richard Glossip is innocent and should be exonerated, with no further trial necessary.

Please send a copy of your letter to Attorney General Gentner Drummond. 

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Contact details:

The Honorable J Kevin Stitt

Governor of the State of Oklahoma

Oklahoma State Capitol

2300 N. Lincoln Blvd; Suite 212

Oklahoma City

OK 73105

USA.

Emails can be tried at:   https://oklahoma.gov/governor/contact/general-information/contact-the-governor.html which gives access to a form.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond

Office of the Attorney General

313 NE 21^st Street

Oklahoma City

OK 73105

USA

Emails can be tried at: contact@oag.ok.gov  

Sources:  Death Penalty Information Center; The Hill; ABC News. Thanks also to group member Lesley for putting the elements of this post together.