OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 22, 2024) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he is pleased the U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will hear the case of Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip. Drummond had supported Glossip’s July 2023 petition to the high court for a writ of certiorari to hear the case.
As the state’s chief law enforcement officer, Drummond has contended Glossip’s conviction for the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese should be vacated and remanded back to district court amid revelations of false testimony by the prosecution’s key witness.
“Public confidence in the death penalty requires the highest standard of reliability, so it is appropriate that the U.S. Supreme Court will review this case,” Drummond said. “As Oklahoma’s chief law officer, I will continue fighting to ensure justice is done in this case and every other.”
Despite the State’s extraordinary admission of error in Glossip’s trial, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the death row inmate’s application last April for post-conviction relief. That ruling prompted Glossip’s request for the Supreme Court to take up his case. The court granted him a temporary stay of execution in May.
Glossip was initially charged with accessory to murder on Jan. 15, 1997, after the murder of his boss, Van Treese. A co-worker of Glossip’s confessed to beating Van Treese to death in an Oklahoma City motel room. As part of a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty, the co-worker testified that Glossip offered to pay him for the killing.
As a result, Glossip was charged and eventually convicted of first-degree murder in 1998. The co-worker, who was the prosecution’s star witness, was convicted and received a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals later overturned Glossip’s conviction for ineffective assistance of counsel, but he was again convicted and sentenced to death at a 2004 retrial.
With the case long mired in controversy, Drummond began seeking answers shortly after taking office. He quickly learned that the State had withheld specific materials from Glossip’s defense team. The Attorney General quickly provided access to these items, referred to as “Box 8,” and appointed an independent counsel to conduct a thorough review of the case.
Evidence in Box 8 led to the revelation in January that Glossip’s co-worker – the prosecution’s star witness – had been allowed to give false testimony that failed to disclose he had been prescribed lithium by a psychiatrist for a serious psychiatric condition.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments later this year.