Claire Reid
A death row inmate who has eaten his ‘last meal’ three times is set to be executed, after seeing three execution dates come and go.
Richard Glossip is on death row in Oklahoma for his part in a murder-for-hire killing in 1997. Handyman Justin Sneed testified that Glossip hired him to kill Barry Van Treese, the owner of the motel Glossip worked in, for $10,000.
In exchange for testifying against Glossip, Sneed was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole, while Glossip was sentenced to death in 2004.
Glossip has always maintained his innocence.
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Since his conviction, Glossip has lived past three execution dates and believes God will ‘spare’ him again should another date be set.
He was first set to be killed via lethal injection in 2015 but it was postponed due to a Supreme Court case against the state of Oklahoma.
Later the same year, Glossip was given another date for execution, but it was called off just three-hours before he was set to be killed.
That date was rescheduled for later the same month, but this time he was granted yet another stay of execution after officials found they had the wrong drug to use in the lethal injection.
Each time, Glossip has requested a final meal of fish and chips, a Wendy’s Baconator, a strawberry shake, and pizza.
Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, said in a statement: “Richard Glossip has been through three tortuous execution dates already. It does not serve justice to set a fourth execution date for an innocent man before all this new evidence can be fully considered in a court of law.
“Public reaction to this new evidence makes clear that Oklahomans, even those who support the death penalty, do not want to see an innocent man executed.”
Last month, Republican state representative Kevin McDugle – who says he supports the death penalty – said he believes Glossip is innocent.
He said: "We've got an individual sitting on death row that has been there 25 years, and I believe he's totally innocent."
McDugle went on to say: “If we put Richard Glossip to death, I will fight in this state to abolish the death penalty, simply because the process is not pure.”
McDugle made his comments after a new report was released reviewing 12,000 documents relating to the case as well as going over dozens of witness interviews and other evidence.
The report concluded that the ‘trial cannot be relied on to support a murder-for-hire-conviction. Nor can it provide a basis for the government to take the life of Richard E. Glossip’.
At the beginning of this month, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals announced 25 execution dates for death row inmates, including Glossip, whose fourth execution is set for 22 September 2022.
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