Oklahoma death row inmate Glossip released on bond after murder conviction overturned

Last year, the Supreme Court overturned Richard Glossip’s murder conviction in the 1997 killing of Oklahoma hotel owner Barry Van Treese. The court found serious prosecutorial misconduct in the trial that sentenced Glossip to death. Over the years, Glossip has had 9 different execution dates and has been served his last meal three times. Today, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Glossip was allowed to walk free on bond as he awaits a new murder trial. Glossip was 34 years old when he was first arrested in 1997 and is now 63.

Glossip’s case has drawn widespread attention with celebrities like Susan Sarandon and Kim Kardashian calling for his conviction to be overturned. A 2017 documentary titled “Killing Richard Glossip” follows his attorneys’ search for evidence to exonerate him. Even Oklahoma’s Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond has campaigned for Glossip’s conviction to be overturned. Drummond pointed to numerous irregularities in Glossip’s prosecution, including prosecutors knowingly allowing a witness to give false testimony. Drummond still believes that Glossip is guilty and intends to retry him, but will not seek the death penalty this time.

Van Treese was beaten to death with a baseball bat by admitted murderer Justin Sneed. At the time, Sneed worked as a maintenance man at Van Treese’s hotel while Glossip was the general manager. Sneed was soon apprehended and didn’t take long to confess to the murder. However, he claimed that Glossip had hired him to kill Van Treese. For his testimony against Glossip, Sneed received a life sentence rather than the death penalty.

Many people who have had contact with Sneed, including members of his own family, believe that he lied. In 2022, a handwritten note from Sneed indicated his desire to recant his testimony. In another letter, a public defender advised him against recanting since he would likely face the death penalty if he withdrew his accusation against Glossip.