The State of Oklahoma was expected to put a Galesburg native to death this afternoon for his role in the 1997 murder of an Oklahoma City Hotel owner, but an Oklahoma appeals court has halted the execution.
It’s a controversial case that has garnered international attention. 52-year-old Richard Glossip would have faced lethal injection at 3 p.m. today, barring any last minute changes.
Those changes have been the hope of Glossip’s lawyers this week, who on Monday presented what they say is new evidence in the case.
In short, Glossip was convicted in 1997 on first-degree murder charges for orchestrating the “hired” killing of Oklahoma City Hotel Owner Barry van Treese. The case was re-evaluated in 2004 due to an incompetent Public Defender, but Glossip was convicted again.
Controversy has sparked because of testimony given by the man who admitted to actually killing van Treese. Hotel maintenance man Justin Sneed was sentenced to life in prison after he said in court that he belligerently beat van Treese to death. Sneed has said Glossip paid for the hit, yet the murderer himself did not receive the death penalty.
Numerous supporters of Glossip have spoken up because of that issue. Death penalty opponent Helen Prejean, actress Susan Sarandon, and former University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer have all joined with Glossip’s lawyers and have asked Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin for a 60-day stay of execution while information is sorted out.
Fallin released a statement yesterday negating that request. She says her office finds “none of the evidence credible.”
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has granted the stay of execution to allow attorneys to explore new evidence. According to the Associated Press, Glossip’s attorney says they have a signed affidavit from another inmate who claims he heard another man confess to setting Glossip up.
