Man on death row who avoided execution 3 times could have murder conviction vacated

A death row inmate currently in prison in Oklahoma could have his conviction overturned after a new trial.

Former motel manager Richard Glossip has been behind bars for more than 25 years for ordering the murder of his boss, Barry Van Treese. He's always maintained his innocence.

The inmate has already narrowly escaped death three times. After he was served three separate 'last meals', Glossip's execution was postponed as previous dates ended with temporary delays knowns as reprieves or stays of execution.

Now, new elements have emerged in the case that could vacate the conviction altogether.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections

As Glossip is currently scheduled to be executed on May 18, Oklahoma's Attorney General Gentner F. Drummond is asking the inmate be granted a re-trial after examining evidence.

"While the State has previously opposed relief for Glossip, it has changed its position based on a careful review of the new information that has come to light," Gentner wrote to the state's appeal court.

The new evidence boils down to another key player in the case, Justin Sneed. The then-19-year-old admitted to murder Van with a baseball bat, but avoided the death row himself in exchange for his testimony against Glossip, who he claimed had ordered the hit-and-kill.

Thanks to a pro-bono investigation from law firm Reed Smith, Sneed's letters from prison were taken into account. In his messages to his lawyer, the inmate seems to be troubled by something and asked if he could change his account at some point during his sentence.

"It is now clear that it would be unconscionable for the State to move forward with Mr. Glossip’s execution when there is so much doubt surrounding his conviction,” Glossip's attorney, Don Knight, said in a statement on April 6.

"We thank (Attorney) General Drummond for his courageous decision to take a deeper look at this difficult case and urge the Court of Criminal Appeals to quickly grant the Attorney General’s request and remand Mr. Glossip’s case to the trial court for further proceedings," Knight added.

As for Sneed's letters, Glossip's lawyer wasn't surprised the inmate felt remorse over his original testimony.

"We always suspected that Justin Sneed really wanted to, at some point, tell the truth," he commented.

"But from those papers, we could tell that even though he was trying to, his lawyer at the time was telling him, 'Don't do it.'"

Meanwhile, Glossip still doesn't know whether his fourth execution date will be his last day on earth.

"It's still scary, it will always be scary until they finally open this door and let me go, or remove this from over my head completely, so I don't have to worry about, 'Are they going to kill me next month? Or the month after that? When does time finally run out?'" he said in an interview with CNN.

It's now up to the Oklahoma Court of Appeals to decide whether Glossip is to stand a new trial.

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