The former inmate of the death corridor Richard Glossip, who spent almost 30 years in the death corridor before the Supreme Court revoked his sentence earlier this year, can be released from prison today.
Glossip, 62, will appear in the Court on Wednesday in Oklahoma City for a bail audience on his possible release.
The former Motel manager was sentenced in 1997 by commissioning the murder of his former boss Barry Van Tresese, the owner of a motel in Oklahoma City. Glossip has maintained his innocence.
The Supreme Court expelled the conviction for murder of Glossip in February because a key witness lied in the Court and the prosecutors held information about him.
The witness, Justin Sneed, admitted to having killed Van Treese, but told prosecutors that the murder was in the direction of Glossip in exchange for $ 10,000. Sneed, a motel manual, received a life imprisonment for crime, while Glossip received the death penalty.
In the majority ruling of the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the prosecutors “knew that Sneed’s statements were false” and that “because Sneed’s testimony was the only direct evidence of Glossip ‘guilt for capital murder, the evaluation of the jury of Sneed’s credibility was necessarily determining here.”
“Therefore, there is a reasonable probability that correcting Sneed’s testimony would have affected the jury’s trial,” he wrote.
Glossip’s lawyer, Don Knight, did not immediately return a request for comments. In February, he praised the ruling of the Supreme Court.
“He had nine execution dates, three meals, and obviously, finally obtaining relief has been enormous for him, and is excited beyond words,” Knight said at that time.
From the ruling, Glossip has been removed from the death corridor and held without bail at the Oklahoma County Detention Center.
The court ruling occurred several years after a group of bipartisan legislators from Oklahoma defended Glossip’s innocence, commissioning an independent report in his defense.
The 2022 report concluded that “no reasonable jury hearing, the complete record would condemn Glossip for first degree murder.”
The last turn in the case of Glossip occurred last month when the state attorney general of Oklahoma, Gentner Drummond, said he intends to follow a new trial for murder against Glossip about a first -degree murder position.
“While it was clear to me and for the United States Supreme Court that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial, I have never proclaimed his innocence,” Drummond said in a statement at that time. “After the Superior Court sent the matter to the District Court, my office thoroughly reviewed the merits of the case against Richard Glossip and concluded that there is sufficient evidence to ensure a conviction for murder.”
Drummond added that he would look for a life imprisonment for Glossip instead of the death penalty.
The State Attorney General’s Office did not immediately return a request for comments.
