John Jefferson
An Oklahoma man whose execution by the state has been postponed multiple times, including three close calls in which he consumed his “last meals,” has found an unlikely ally in his effort to vacate his murder conviction.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican, contends that prosecutors hid evidence in Richard Glossip’s trial for the 1997 murder-for-hire killing of his boss.
Glossip’s lawyers on Wednesday will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court for the justices to grant him a new trial.
“If he is executed, I believe that it will be a travesty of justice,” Drummond said in an interview with Reuters.
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Glossip, now 61, was convicted in 1998 of the killing, but an appeals court overturned that conviction based on ineffective defense counsel. After a second trial in 2004, he was found guilty of first-degree murder.
“After a comprehensive independent investigation, I believe it is clear that prosecutors committed a Brady violation by not sharing potentially exculpatory evidence with the defendant and violated Napue [Napue v. Illinois] by knowingly allowing false testimony that prevented the defendant from receiving due process,” Drummond said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Glossip has maintained his innocence in the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese. Another man, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing and killing Van Treese but testified he only did so after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000.
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Sneed received a life sentence in exchange for his testimony and was the key witness against Glossip.
“Oklahomans deserve to have absolute faith that the death penalty is administered fairly and with certainty,” said Drummond. “I don’t believe that justice is served by executing a man based on the testimony of a compromised witness.”
Drummond doesn’t believe Glossip is innocent but said he didn’t receive a fair trial. Among his concerns are that prosecutors knew Sneed lied on the witness stand about his psychiatric condition and his reason for taking the mood-stabilizing drug lithium.
The chief prosecutor has also cited a box of evidence in the case that was destroyed, including motel receipts, a shower curtain and masking tape that Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, said could have potentially proven Glossip’s innocence.
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In the years since being sentenced to death, Glossip’s execution date has been changed nine times, he has been fed three “last meals,” and he has been married twice.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office.
Among those who remain convinced of Glossip’s guilt is former Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater, who reviewed Glossip’s case multiple times and who urged the state’s Pardon and Parole Board to reject clemency for him even though the original case was prosecuted by his predecessors.
“I went through that case more than once and looked at everything that was there, and there was nothing that caused me to have any question about the integrity of that conviction and that death sentence,” Prater told the AP.
A decision is expected by early summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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