Glossip, 62, was twice convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 killing of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese. In the more than 20 years since his conviction, Glossip has eaten his “last meal” three times and been scheduled to be executed nine times.
In 2015, moments before his scheduled lethal injection, prison officials learned one of the drugs they received to carry out the procedure didn’t match state guidelines. The error led to a six-year moratorium on executions in Oklahoma.
Throughout the process, Glossip has maintained his innocence.
In February, his charges were thrown out by the United States Supreme Court, after it found evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. The court determined the case’s original prosecutors violated Glossip’s constitutional right to a fair trial by allowing a key witness to give testimony they knew to be false.
“While it was clear to me and to the U.S. Supreme Court that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial, I have never proclaimed his innocence,” Drummond said in a press release announcing the state’s plan to pursue charges. “After the high court remanded the matter back to district court, my office thoroughly reviewed the merits of the case against Richard Glossip and concluded that sufficient evidence exists to secure a murder conviction.”
Key evidence implicating Glossip in court came from Justin Sneed, who confessed to robbing and bludgeoning Van Treese to death with a baseball bat, but testified Glossip had promised to pay him $10,000 to do so. Sneed was given a life sentence without parole.
While reviewing case documents shortly after he took office in 2023, Drummond realized the state knew Sneed “had suffered a psychiatric condition and was prescribed a drug that would have an effect on his memory." In a rare move, he pushed for the court to overturn Glossip’s conviction, propelling the case’s resting decision all the way to the Supreme Court.
The state’s plan to retry Glossip was revealed during a status conference hearing at the Oklahoma County Courthouse Monday morning.
Glossip’s defense told District Judge Heather Coyle they plan to file a motion for a preliminary hearing, which would require the state to establish probable cause, before the case can be brought to a full trial.
Andrea Miller, legal director of the Innocence Project at the Oklahoma City University School of Law and one of several lawyers now representing Glossip, told the judge she didn’t think Glossip should see another trial.
“Frankly, given the history of this case, we don’t think there can be a fair trial,” Miller said.
Despite the prosecution’s effort to set a date for the trial, Coyle opted to wait until she decides whether to hold a preliminary hearing first.
Drummond said he was confident there is sufficient evidence to secure Glossip’s conviction, even though decades have passed since Van Treese's death.
