WASHINGTON (news agencies) — 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 media: “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.
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.
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