Supreme Court blocks Richard Glossip's execution in Oklahoma
The Supreme Court on Friday blocked Oklahoma from executing death row inmate Richard Glossip after the state's attorney general agreed Glossip's life should be spared.
Glossip had been scheduled to be put to death on May 18 despite statements by new Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond that Glossip did not receive a fair trial.
In an April 24 letter to the Pardon and Parole Board obtained by CBS News, Drummond wrote that new evidence released by his office indicated that the main witness against Glossip was not entirely truthful in his testimony, resulting in the creation "of reasonable doubt as to Mr. Glossip's guilt for first-degree murder."
Glossip was convicted of the 1997 murder-for-hire killing of his boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, at two separate trials based largely on the testimony of his co-defendant, Justin Sneed. Sneed admitted robbing and killing Van Treese, but he claims he only did so after Glossip agreed to pay him $10,000. Sneed received a sentence of life in prison in exchange for his testimony, but his motive and truthfulness about his psychiatric treatment and reasons for taking the mood-stabilizing drug lithium have been questioned.
Glossip was almost executed three times, including once when he was just a few feet from the state's death chamber. In September 2015 a scheduled execution was stopped when prison officials realized they had received the wrong lethal drug, a mix-up that helped prompt a nearly seven-year moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma.
Glossip's case attracted international attention including the support of celebrities Kim Kardashian and Susan Sarandon. His case also was featured in a 2017 documentary film titled "Killing Richard Glossip."
An Oklahoma appeals court subsequently upheld Glossip's conviction and the state's pardon and parole board deadlocked in a vote to grant him clemency.
The high court put the execution on hold while it reviews the case.
Justice Neil Gorsuch took no part in the case, presumably because he dealt with it earlier as an appeals court judge.
Last year, anti-death penalty advocate Lea Rodger married Glossip inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
"For Rich, surviving three execution attempts, possibly facing a fourth, the one thing he's really taken away from that is: Don't take anything for granted ... really live in the moment," Rodger said before they wed in a small ceremony inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.