The story of Richard Glossip: What loss of life row inmate was accused of and why he has dodged execution

Death row inmate Richard Glossip might dodge execution for a fourth time after the lawyer normal of Oklahoma intervened in his case. 

Glossip has spent greater than 1 / 4 of a century behind bars, convicted of ordering the homicide of his boss.

But he has all the time stated he’s harmless, and to this point these decided to see the loss of life penalty via have been unsuccessful.

Sky News appears to be like on the crime he was accused of, the trial that put him on loss of life row and the problems Glossip’s supporters have discovered with the investigation.

What is he accused of?

Glossip was accused of ordering the 1997 killing of Barry Van Treese, the proprietor of a motel in Oklahoma City the place he labored.

The motel’s handyman, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing Mr Van Treese and beating him to loss of life with a baseball bat, however claimed he did so solely after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000 (£8,000) to do it.

Sneed escaped the loss of life penalty by implicating Glossip and is serving a life sentence with out parole.

No bodily proof linked Glossip to the homicide and the prosecution’s case rested largely on Sneed’s testimony.

The prosecution argued Glossip needed to cover his alleged embezzlement from the motel, the place he was supervisor, and so had Mr Van Treese killed.

Trial and conviction

Glossip has been convicted of homicide and sentenced to loss of life twice – for a similar killing.

He was first convicted of homicide in 1998 and confronted the loss of life penalty as a result of he refused to simply accept a plea deal.

In 2001 the conviction was overturned and he was granted a retrial.

He was convicted and sentenced to loss of life for a second time in 2004.

An unfair trial?

Glossip has all the time maintained his innocence.

The lawyer normal of Oklahoma has filed a movement to cease the execution at the moment scheduled for 18 May, saying that whereas he didn’t imagine Glossip is harmless, he stated the trial he acquired was “unfair and unreliable”.

He claimed Sneed lied to the jury about Glossip’s psychological well being and drug use.

Republican state consultant Kevin McDugle – a self-proclaimed loss of life penalty supporter – is amongst those that have spoken out in help of Glossip’s declare to innocence.

He stated Glossip was “totally innocent” and known as for him to get a brand new appeals court docket listening to.

Read extra:
Execution was set for May
Tears and hugs after Glossip reprieve
When he married anti-death penalty advocate

Law agency Reed Smith discovered necessary proof had been misplaced or destroyed in a report about Glossip’s case.

It additionally stated {that a} detective had improperly requested main questions of Sneed in an effort to implicate Glossip.

Stan Perry, a lawyer with Reed Smith, stated: “Our conclusion is that no reasonable juror, hearing the complete record, and the uncovered facts… would have convicted Richard Glossip of capital murder.”

The misplaced proof included monetary data that had been destroyed in late 1999 or early 2000, earlier than Glossip’s retrial and after his first conviction and loss of life sentence had been overturned.

These might have contradicted the prosecution’s principle that Glossip had Mr Van Treese killed to cowl up his alleged embezzlement.

Listen to Glossip talking to Sky News in 2019

Why he is dodged the loss of life penalty earlier than

Glossip has eaten his final meal 3 times and confronted 9 execution dates which have been delayed.

In 2015, his execution was halted when jail officers realised that they had acquired the incorrect deadly drug.

After the mix-up, executions had been halted in Oklahoma for nearly seven years.

Again in 2019, three-and-a-half hours earlier than he was on account of die, there was a keep of execution.

The executions had been delayed for varied causes together with permitting time for authorized proceedings and opinions of Oklahoma’s deadly injection protocols.

Two marriages behind bars

Glossip married 21-year-old Leighta Joy Jurasik in 2018. The couple divorced three years later.

He then married an anti-death penalty advocate inside a jail in Oklahoma in March 2022.

Lea Rodger, who was 32 on the time of the marriage, has spent greater than a decade combating for an finish to capital punishment.