McALESTER, Okla. – Oklahoma Death Row inmate Richard Glossip’s fate again rests in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court for a second time after nearly two hours of oral argument were held Wednesday.
Glossip, 61, was convicted twice of first-degree murder in the 1997 murder-for-hire plot that accused him of hiring Justin Sneed to kill Barry Van Treese. Sneed is serving a life sentence for the murder after accepting a plea deal to testify against Glossip.
He has maintained his innocence, despite facing nine execution dates and being served three “last meals.”
The court in in May 2023 granted a stay in Glossip’s execution, just days before a May 18, 2023, execution date, so the court could decide whether to accept the case. Justices agreed in January to hear arguments.
It is the third time the court has intervened in the case. Justices previously stopped his execution in 2015, then ruled against him by a 5-4 vote in upholding Oklahoma’s lethal injection process.
“Richard Glossip was convicted on the word of one man, Justin Sneed, the undisputed murderer in this case,” Seth Waxman, a former U.S. solicitor general who was representing Glossip said in his opening statement. “Oklahoma has now disclosed evidence revealing that Mr. Snead lied to the jury about his history of psychiatric treatment, including the fact that a prison psychiatrist prescribed lithium to treat his previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder. The prosecution suppressed that evidence and then failed to correct Mr. Snead’s perjured denial.”
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and his office contends, following an independent review, that Sneed provided false testimony and prosecutors withheld evidence from the jury that sentenced Glossip to death.
Court documents state Sneed told jurors he asked for some medicine for a cold from jail medical staff and he was given lithium “for some reason.”
“I don’t know why. I never seen no psychiatrist or anything,” Sneed said during Glossip’s second trial.
Drummond contends medical records uncovered during the independent review show Sneed was given lithium to treat his serious psychiatric condition, and combined with his drug use “would have had a impact on his credibility and memory recall, in addition to causing him to become potentially violent or suffer from paranoia.”
An independent review commissioned by Drummond’s office in 2023 states a box of evidence never before produced to Glossip’s defense attorneys show prosecutors hid Sneed’s psychiatric condition from jurors.
State appellate judges wrote in their April 2023 denial to grant a new case that Glossip was “given unprecedented access to the prosecution files” and did not provide information “that would convince this court to overturn the jury’s determination that he is guilty of first-degree murder.”
Christopher Michel, who argued in favor of upholding Glossip’s conviction, told the justices the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the conviction for 20 years.
“OCCA has reviewed and upheld Petitioner’s conviction six separate times, finding compelling evidence that he commissioned the murder of Barry Van Treese,” Michel said. “This Court should, accordingly, dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction, leaving Petitioner free to pursue state law, clemency or other available relief.”
He suggested a new clemency board could be more favorable for Glossip than the 2-2 result that moved the 2023 execution process forward.
Michel said Glossip is relying heavily on Drummond’s confession of error and said that “courts, not executives, determine whether to vacate final judgments of conviction.”
Only eight justices are hearing the case, and a 4-4 tie would affirm the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ ruling. Justice Neil Gorsuch recused himself, possibly due to his involvement in an earlier appeal presented to him while as an appellate judge.
A decision in the case is expected by July.