Death row inmate Richard Glossip's case goes before board

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – After a request for a new trial was denied, an Oklahoma death row inmate had a clemency hearing just weeks before his scheduled execution.

On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 2-2 to deny clemency for death row inmate Richard Glossip.

Richard Glossip has been on death row for 25 years for the murder of Barry Van Treese.

The case goes back to 1997, when Glossip and Justin Sneed were convicted of killing Glossip’s boss and owner of the Best Budget Inn, Barry Van Treese.

Although Sneed confessed to beating and killing Van Treese with a bat, Sneed testified that Glossip hired him to kill Van Treese.

In exchange for his testimony, Sneed was given a life sentence. Glossip was sentenced to death.

Over the years, Glossip has had his execution date delayed at least seven times.

His current execution date is set for May 18, 2023.

Earlier this year, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced that he wanted Glossip’s execution pushed back until after August 2024, in order for an independent counsel to complete its comprehensive review of Glossip’s case, conviction and sentence.

Glossip’s attorneys also filed for post-conviction relief, saying he did not receive a fair trial and the State did not adequately prove his involvement in Van Treese’s murder.

Last week, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied the request for a stay of execution and a new trial.

The court ruled that Glossip’s team did not provide anything “extraordinarily new” in the affidavit, and said the information was “insufficient to cause this Court to believe that Glossip is factually innocent.”

Glossip’s attorney released this statement following the court ruling:

“Oklahoma’s elected Attorney General Gentner Drummond found, after conducting his own independent review, that the State’s star witness against Mr. Glossip, Justin Sneed, was not a truthful witness. Without Sneed’s “material misstatements” the outcome of Mr. Glossip’s trial would have been different. Since the State now agrees that the only witness to allege that Mr. Glossip was involved in this crime cannot be believed, it is unconscionable for the court to attempt to force the State to move forward with his execution. We cannot permit this longstanding injustice to go unchallenged and will be filing for review of this manifestly unjust ruling in the United States Supreme Court. We ask all Oklahomans who believe in justice to stand with Mr. Glossip, and the State of Oklahoma, to stop this wrongful judicial execution, and grant Mr. Glossip the new trial he so rightly deserves.”

DON KNIGHT, ATTORNEY FOR RICHARD GLOSSIP

Following the decision, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he was "not willing to allow an execution proceed despite so many doubts."

As a result, Drummond said he planned to ask the states Pardon and Parole Board to recommend sparing Glossip's life.

In a letter to the five-member board, Drummond wrote that he has serious concerns about the fairness of Glossip’s trial and cited two independent reviews of the case that recommended Glossip be granted a new trial.

“I am not aware of an Oklahoma Attorney General ever supporting a clemency application for a death row inmate,” Drummond wrote. “In every previous case that has come before this board, the state has maintained full confidence in the integrity of the conviction. That is simply not the case in this matter due to the material evidence that was not disclosed to the jury.”

Despite his concerns, it seems the board denied his petition for clemency.