By Jenna Tooley, Sarah Chayet, and Bergen Greenley
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a report this week he supports the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the case of death row inmate Richard Glossip.
Drummond had also advocated for Glossip’s petition for review, or writ of certiorari, in July 2023.
The AG stated, in the report, “Public confidence in the death penalty requires the highest standard of reliability, so it is appropriate that the U.S. The Supreme Court will review this case. As Oklahoma’s chief law officer, I will continue fighting to ensure justice is done in this case and every other.”
Not long after taking office in January 2023, Drummond began to look into Glossip’s case and appointed an independent counsel. According to the Oklahoma Attorney General Report, the counsel was responsible for reviewing evidence referred to as “Box 8” that had been previously withheld by the State.
The Oklahoma Attorney General report notes after Glossip was charged with accessory to the 1997 murder of his boss, Barry Van Treese, he was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder in 1998. Glossip’s co-worker, Justin Sneed, had been the prosecution’s star witness.
Sneed testified that Glossip had offered to pay him $10,000 for the murder of Van Treese, as stated in the Oklahoma Attorney General report. This testimony was part of a plea deal that allowed Sneed to avoid the death penalty.
The AG report stated evidence from Box 8 revealed Sneed had been permitted to give false testimony that omitted the fact that he had been prescribed lithium for bipolar affective disorder, a serious psychiatric condition. According to Drummond, this information calls the credibility of Sneed’s testimony into question.
According to the State’s brief, Sneed “was prescribed (lithium) to treat his serious psychiatric condition that combined with his known methamphetamine use would have had an impact on his credibility and memory recall in addition to causing him to become potentially violent or suffer from paranoia.”
Because of this new information, the State confessed error in Glossip’s case. However, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals did not accept this confession and continued to reject Glossip’s post-conviction relief applications.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals remains unwavering in their support of the execution of Glossip, who has been in prison for more than 26 years.
The process of Glossip’s case revisitation – prompted by Drummond’s investigation – will continue later in 2024, when the Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments.
