Oklahoma’s top prosecutor said Monday that the state intends to pursue a new murder trial against Richard Glossip but without the death penalty after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated his capital conviction in a rare victory for a death row prisoner.
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s decision to retry Glossip, 62, on a first-degree murder charge came out of a status conference hearing. Drummond said in a news release that the evidence still implicates Glossip in the 1997 murder of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese.
Glossip, a motel manager working for Van Treese, has maintained his innocence while on death row for almost three decades.
While Drummond, a Republican, has not agreed with Glossip’s innocence claims, he was supportive of the Supreme Court’s ruling in February, when the majority of justices agreed, as Drummond put it, that “it is now an undeniable fact that he did not receive a fair trial.”
Drummond said Monday that he would ensure Glossip now receives an impartial trial.
“While it was clear to me and to the U.S. Supreme Court that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial, I have never proclaimed his innocence,” Drummond said in a statement. “After the high court remanded the matter back to district court, my office thoroughly reviewed the merits of the case against Richard Glossip and concluded that sufficient evidence exists to secure a murder conviction.”
Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, a Democrat, had previously indicated that Glossip would not be eligible for the death penalty now if he were to be retried.
Drummond said he would seek a life sentence for Glossip at his next trial.
“While I cannot go back 25 years and handle the case in the proper way that would have ensured true justice, I still have a duty to seek the justice that is available today,” he added.
The continuation of the state’s prosecution against Glossip resumes a twisting case that saw him dodge death several times with nine separate execution dates that had to be postponed. Various courts delayed the executions as he appealed, while state corrections officials also came under scrutiny a decade ago for botched execution attempts.
But Glossip’s case had been championed in recent years by a bipartisan group of Oklahoma legislators after an independent report they commissioned in 2022 found that “no reasonable jury hearing the complete record would convict Glossip of first-degree murder.”
The report centered on the state’s primary witness, Justin Sneed, who had confirmed to the report’s investigators that he had discussions with multiple family members about “recanting” his testimony over an 11-year period. Investigators also said the district attorney’s case file included documentation describing how the state provided Sneed information “so he could conform his testimony to match the evidence” from other witnesses.
Glossip’s original 1998 conviction was overturned in 2001, when a state appeals court found that the evidence against him was weak. But the state took him to trial again, and a second jury found him guilty in 2004.
At Glossip’s trial, Sneed, a motel handyman, admitted that he had killed Van Treese, but said that it was at Glossip’s direction and that he had been promised $10,000. In exchange for testifying against Glossip, Sneed received a life sentence while Glossip was given the death penalty.
Prosecutors said Glossip orchestrated the plot because he was embezzling from the motel and feared being fired.
The Supreme Court on Monday tossed out Glossip’s capital conviction in a 5-3 ruling. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate, presumably because he was involved in the case when he was on a federal appeals court that includes Oklahoma.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the majority’s ruling that prosecutors “knew Sneed’s statements were false” and that “because Sneed’s testimony was the only direct evidence of Glossip’s guilt of capital murder, the jury’s assessment of Sneed’s credibility was necessarily determinative here.”
“Hence, there is a reasonable likelihood that correcting Sneed’s testimony would have affected the judgment of the jury,” she added.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Glossip was moved off death row, but was held without bail in the Oklahoma County Detention Center on a first-degree murder charge.
A next court date in Glossip’s case is scheduled for June 17.
Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, did not immediately comment about the prosecutors’ decision, but he welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling in February that spared his longtime client from the death chamber.
“He had nine execution dates, three last meals, and obviously, to finally get relief has been huge for him,” Knight said, “and he’s thrilled beyond words.”
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