Supreme Court throws out Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip's murder
conviction and death sentence
 [February 26, 2025]
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the murder
conviction and death penalty for Richard Glossip, an Oklahoma man who
was found guilty in the killing of a motel owner but has steadfastly
maintained his innocence and averted multiple attempts by the state to
execute him.
Glossip's wife, Lea, called the decision “an answered prayer.” Glossip,
now 62, has spent nearly half his life behind bars for his role in a
1997 killing at a motel in Oklahoma City.
Prosecutors' decision to allow a key witness to give testimony they knew
to be false violated Glossip's constitutional right to a fair trial, the
justices ruled in a case that produced a rare alliance of his lawyers
and the state's Republican attorney general in support of a new day in
court for Glossip.
“Glossip is entitled to a new trial,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for
five justices.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, voting to uphold
the conviction and death sentence, while Justice Amy Coney Barrett would
have allowed a state appeals court to decide how to proceed.
Thomas wrote that the majority had “cast aside" the interests of victim
Barry Van Treese's family. The victim’s relatives had told the high
court that they wanted to see Glossip executed. A message left with Van
Treese’s brother, Ken Van Treese, was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Don Knight, Glossip's attorney, said the court was right to overturn the
conviction because prosecutors hid critical evidence from the defense
team. “Today was a victory for justice and fairness in our judicial
system,” Knight said in a statement. “Rich Glossip, who has maintained
his innocence for 27 years, will now be given the chance to have the
fair trial that he has always been denied.”
Glossip's wife wrote in a text to The Associated Press: "Rich and I
opened the decision together on the phone this morning, knowing it would
be a life-changing moment. To say that we are overcome with emotion is
an understatement. We are deeply grateful. Today is truly an answered
prayer.”
Glossip, who currently is housed at the maximum-security Oklahoma State
Penitentiary in McAlester, is expected to remain in prison, at least
until the state decides whether to retry him, Oklahoma Attorney General
Gentner Drummond said at a news conference following the Supreme Court
decision.
"I do not believe Richard Glossip is innocent,” Drummond said, though he
sought and praised the court's ruling. He also conceded it might be
difficult to put Glossip on trial again after so many years.
Drummond and Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, a
Democrat, plan to confer about what will happen next. Behenna has
previously said she would not consider the death penalty in the case.
Oklahoma’s top criminal appeals court had repeatedly upheld the
conviction and sentence, even after the state sided with Glossip.
Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of Van
Treese, who owned the motel where he was beaten to death with a baseball
bat, in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme.
Glossip was an employee.
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This photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows
death row inmate Richard Glossip on Feb. 19, 2021. (Oklahoma
Department of Corrections via AP, File)
He has always denied killing Van Treese, although he acknowledged
misleading investigators in the aftermath of the crime. Another man,
Justin Sneed, admitted robbing and killing Van Treese but testified
he only did so after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Sneed
received a life sentence in exchange for his testimony and was the
key witness against Glossip.
In 2023, Drummond said boxes of new evidence persuaded him that
Glossip’s trial was not fair.
The new evidence showed that prosecutors knew Sneed lied on the
witness stand about his psychiatric condition and his reason for
taking the mood-stabilizing drug lithium, Sotomayor wrote. Drummond
also was concerned about a box of evidence in the case that was
destroyed, she wrote. The evidence included motel receipts, a shower
curtain and masking tape that Knight has said could have potentially
proven Glossip’s innocence.
At least five justices voted in 2023 to block Glossip's execution
while his case played out. Thirteen months ago, the high court
agreed to take up the claim that his trial was unfair. Justice Neil
Gorsuch did not take part in the case, presumably because he
participated in it at an earlier stage when he was an appeals court
judge.
Oklahoma has set execution dates nine times for Glossip. He has
eaten three “last meals” and been married twice while awaiting
execution.
The court faced two legal issues, whether Glossip’s rights were
violated because the evidence wasn’t turned over and whether the
Oklahoma court decision upholding the conviction and sentence,
reached after the state’s position changed, should be allowed to
stand.
Barrett, in her separate opinion, agreed with the majority that the
appellate decision should be thrown out but was not convinced that
the evidence clearly showed prosecutors knew Sneed testified
falsely.
In Glossip's first hearing before the Supreme Court, the court
stopped his execution in 2015, then ruled against him by a 5-4 vote
in upholding Oklahoma’s lethal injection process.
Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan, also part of Tuesday's majority,
dissented 10 years ago.
Glossip avoided execution then only because of a mix-up in the drugs
that were to be used.
Glossip was initially convicted in 1998 but won a new trial ordered
by a state appeals court. He was convicted again in 2004.
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