Supporters of Richard Glossip held a press conference at the Oklahoma state capitol last Wednesday. Richard Glossip who is currently on death row for what prosecutors at the time called a “murder for hire plot” against hotel employee Barry Van Treese. In the plot they say Glossip hired hotel maintenance man Justin Sneed to carry out the crime. For his testimony in the original 1997 trial Sneed received life in prison and Glossip was sent to death row.
The press conference was held to go over the findings of a new report commissioned by 34 Oklahoma state lawmakers of which 28 are Republican. One of the key findings in the report says that after the original case was overturned due to ineffective defense counsel, they found that the prosecution had instructed law enforcement to destroy evidence before Glossip’s second trial even began.
The Reed Smith law firm investigator Stan Perry said of the Glossip case “Our conclusion is that no reasonable jury, hearing the complete record and the uncovered facts detailed in this report, would have convicted Richard Glossip of capital murder.”
A growing cadre of lawmakers contest that Glossip was wrongfully convicted of the crime he is charged with Rep Keivn McDugle saying “If we put Richard Glossip to death, I will fight in this state to abolish the death penalty simply because the process is not pure.”
Oklahoma State Representative Kevin McDugle reacted further to the report saying “The investigative report confirmed in my mind that we do have an innocent man on death row.” The report gained an even more sense of urgency after the Oklahoma restarted executions in the state.
Glossip who is out of appeals is second to next in line to be executed by lethal injection in the state of Oklahoma. Lawmakers hope for some kind of reprieve from what they see as a travesty of justice.
