Richard Glossip is facing his fourth execution date but is hoping for another day in court to plead his case once more.
The case of convicted criminal Richard Glossip has been back in the news in Oklahoma recently. Glossip is currently in Oklahoma State Penitentiary on death row, where he awaits execution after his date was pushed back to Dec. 8th of this year, making this the latest of several stays of execution that he has been granted. The 59-year-old man, then 33, was originally convicted of hiring another man, Justin Sneed, then 19, to murder Barry Van Treese, the owner of the Best Budget Inn in Oklahoma City where Glossip and Sneed both worked, back in 1997. Sneed reportedly escaped the death penalty by confessing to the act but also by telling police that Richard Glossip had hired him to do so, receiving life in prison for his part in the crime. Glossip would later be arrested, maintaining his innocence the entire time, and he would be convicted and sentenced to death the next year.
Knowing this, and not much else, one could assume that it was that simple, that Glossip had hired Sneed to kill his boss, but one of the things that makes this case so controversial is that, according to reports, there was very little evidence against Glossip outside of the statement from Sneed. However, according to a report from The Intercept in 2015, any defense Glossip could have made was marred by “a perfunctory and biased police investigation, aggressive prosecutors who cut corners and ignored glaring holes in their theory of the crime, and woefully inadequate defense lawyering that left much of the state’s story unchallenged.”
Because of this controversy, the case has gained quite a bit of attention from people all around the world, with actors, billionaires, religious leaders and even local politicians showing their support for Glossip. In addition, evidence gathered by independent investigators suggests that Sneed killed Van Treese in a robbery gone wrong in order to help fund a drug habit, and that Glossip had nothing to do with it.
Alas, Glossip has remained on death row for 25 years, even as multiple reports came in of how Sneed had reportedly bragged that he’d let Richard Glossip take the blame.
Now, a recent report given by Oklahoma officials and reported by NBC News gives startling new evidence that may exonerate Glossip, or at least work towards doing so. The report alleges that Justin Sneed has reportedly considered recanting his testimony, and more shockingly, that the state even provided Sneed with information he could use to match his testimony with other witnesses to the crime, avoiding the majority of the blame while Glossip took the fall for it. As a result of the report, Glossip’s attorneys have filed what is known as a Brady Motion, urging prosecutors to turn over any evidence that they have which might aid Glossip’s defense. However, given how the state Attorney General has been reluctant at best when it comes to listening to any new information, only time will tell if Glossip will be freed or if he will need to wait longer for his day in court, if that day even comes at all.
A website has been launched for the purpose of supporting Richard Glossip. If you are interested, please check the following link
