The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, in light of allegations that the state withheld evidence related to its main witness. The ruling is a major win for Glossip, whose conviction in the 1997 murder-for-hire plot of Barry Van Treese has been called into question by the state attorney general after new evidence emerged in recent years. Glossip has been scheduled for execution nine times, and has eaten his ‘last meal’ three times – only to have his execution stayed.
In a 5-3 ruling authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the high court ruled in favor of Glossip and reversed a decision of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that upheld his conviction and death sentence. Sotomayor was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not take part in the court’s consideration of the case.
Glossip, now 62, was convicted of commissioning the murder of Barry Van Treese, owner of the Best Budget Inn motel in Oklahoma City where Glossip was a manager. All parties agree Van Treese was fatally beaten with a baseball bat by maintenance worker Justin Sneed, who eventually became the star witness for the prosecution. Sneed, who was a methamphetamine addict, confessed to the murder but avoided capital punishment by accepting a plea deal that involved testifying that Glossip paid him $10,000 to do it. While Glossip admitted to helping Sneed cover up the murder after it occurred, he denied knowing Sneed planned to kill Van Treese or encouraging him to do so.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority: “We conclude that the prosecution violated its constitutional obligation to correct false testimony .. Had the prosecution corrected Sneed on the stand, his credibility plainly would have suffered. That correction would have revealed to the jury not just that Sneed was untrustworthy (as amicus points out, the jury already knew he repeatedly lied to the police), but also that Sneed was willing to lie to them under oath. Such a revelation would be significant in any case, and was especially so here where Sneed was already ‘nobody’s idea of a strong witness.’”
Don Knight, an attorney for Glossip, called the ruling “a victory for justice and fairness in our judicial system. We are thankful that a clear majority of the court supports long-standing precedent that prosecutors cannot hide critical evidence from defense lawyers and cannot stand by while their witnesses knowingly lie to the jury. Rich Glossip, who has maintained his innocence for 27 years, will now be given the chance to have the fair trial that he has always been denied.”
Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s attorney general, said his office will review the decision and “determine the most appropriate course of action to ensure justice is secured for all involved. Our justice system is greatly diminished when an individual is convicted without a fair trial, but today we can celebrate that a great injustice has been swept away. I am pleased the high court has validated my grave concerns with how this prosecution was handled, and I am thankful we now have a fresh opportunity to see that justice is done.”
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