Glossip attorney, state lawmaker call for new trial

Sep. 22—An Oklahoma lawmaker and the defense attorney for death row inmate Richard Glossip called for a new trial on the day he was scheduled to be put to death.

Richard Glossip was scheduled to be executed Thursday before Gov. Kevin Stitt issued a 60-day stay of execution last month. But Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, and Glossip's defense attorney Don Knight called for a new trial and investigations based on new evidence they announced in a Thursday press conference.

"I am a strong proponent of the death penalty but we should always make sure that we are 100% sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have the right person," Humphrey said.

Glossip was convicted twice of first-degree murder in a 1997 murder-for-hire plot that accused him of hiring Justin Sneed to kill his boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese.

Sneed admitted to killing Van Treese and told investigators it was under Glossip's direction. Sneed received a sentence of life imprisonment and is a key witness against Glossip.

But Glossip's case gained attention before an ad hoc committee comprised of 34 Oklahoma state lawmakers, including 28 Republicans, called for an independent review conducted by Houston-based law firm Reed Smith. State Rep. Kevin McDugle led the committee and said at a previous press conference he would fight to end the death penalty in Oklahoma if Glossip is executed.

Reed Smith released a third supplement to the investigation this week — which Knight said led attorneys to file a new petition for post-conviction relief based on two key findings.

Knight said the first finding was that Sneed "apparently, all along wanted to recant his testimony."

Sneed asked his attorney in a 2003 letter if he would have the option to recant his testimony. A 2007 letter Sneed wrote his attorney's office implying he wanted to recant his testimony and that he was willing to contact Glossip's attorneys to do so.

Sneed's daughter wrote a 2014 letter stating her father wanted to recant his testimony and believed it would exonerate Glossip. Knight said the letter from Sneed's daughter confirms he felt bad about his testimony.

Knight said the second key finding was evidence that the lead district attorney on the case fed information to Sneed and had his testimony changed in the middle of the trial.

He said a memo written in the middle of the trial states some of Sneed's testimony needed to be "cleaned up" because some of it didn't align with testimony from the medical examiner.

"This is what the government can do when they're allowed to run amok," Knight said.

"We need to call for a new trial," Humphrey said. "I think we need to investigate the district attorney's office. It appears they have not only destroyed evidence, but they created evidence."

Sixty-two Oklahoma state legislators, including 46 Republicans, signed a letter requesting an evidentiary hearing based on the committee investigation results.

Glossip's initial execution in 2015 was nearly conducted before then-Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin issued a stay and a moratorium on executions.

Oklahoma ended the nearly seven-year moratorium on executions last October, when John Marion Grant convulsed nearly two dozen times and vomited on himself before he died by lethal injection, according to witnesses.

Attorneys for several Oklahoma death row inmates challenged Oklahoma's three-drug cocktail used in executions, with the U.S. Supreme court ruling the state could move forward with executions.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set 25 execution dates in five phases through December 2024.

Contact Adrian O'Hanlon III at aohanlon@mcalesternews.com