Washington — The Supreme Court issued a ruling on Tuesday for a new trial for Richard Glossip, an inmate on death row in Oklahoma, whose case received support from the state’s Republican attorney general in his efforts to overturn his conviction.
The court, in a 5-3 decision, sided with Glossip and reversed the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ ruling that had upheld his conviction and death sentence. Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored the opinion on behalf of the majority, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Neil Gorsuch abstained from participating in the consideration of this case.
Glossip was found guilty in the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese, the owner of the motel where he worked, and has been on death row for over 20 years. During this time, he has faced nine execution dates and has had to endure the ritual of a “last meal” on three separate occasions.
Previously, Glossip appeared before the Supreme Court in 2015, trying unsuccessfully to challenge Oklahoma’s execution protocol citing the Eighth Amendment, and has seen his execution halted multiple times.
This latest case saw Glossip’s appeal for a new trial supported by Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, who pointed out various errors from his original trial.
A pivotal aspect of the legal battle centered around the testimony of Glossip’s co-defendant, Jason Sneed, who alleged that Glossip paid him $10,000 to murder Van Treese.
Sneed confessed to committing robbery and bludgeoning Van Treese and is currently serving a life sentence. In contrast, Glossip has consistently asserted his innocence throughout his approximately 25 years on death row.
Glossip’s first conviction was overturned due to ineffective legal representation. In his second trial, Sneed stated he had never consulted a psychiatrist and was medicated with lithium after his arrest. However, in 2022, the state discovered prosecutors’ handwritten notes which Drummond stated undermined Sneed’s credibility as a witness.
Glossip and Drummond’s legal teams argued that these notes indicated Sneed had informed prosecutors about being prescribed lithium after consulting a jail psychiatrist and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This information was not made available to Glossip’s defense, which Drummond asserted suggested that prosecutors had solicited false testimony.
After these discoveries, Oklahoma’s attorney general shared the contents of the banker’s box with Glossip and enlisted independent counsel to review the situation. This review, led by former district attorney Rex Duncan, concluded in April 2023, confirming that Glossip had not received a fair trial.
The state then appealed to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to invalidate Glossip’s conviction and sentence, citing the significant trial errors. However, the court rejected this plea and instructed the state to proceed with Glossip’s execution. A clemency request to the Oklahoma Parole and Pardon Board, which Drummond supported, also failed after the board deadlocked 2-2.
Following this, Glossip and Drummond urged the Supreme Court to intervene. In May 2023, the court agreed to stay his execution and subsequently consented to hear his case. Gorsuch refrained from participating, likely due to prior involvement as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which oversees Oklahoma.
The Supreme Court heard arguments on this matter in early October at the beginning of its new term. Many inquiries concentrated on the implications of the prosecutors’ notes and how the jury’s perspective might have altered had they known about Sneed’s lithium prescription from a psychiatrist following his arrest.
