The US Supreme Court has intervened, granting a new trial to Richard Glossip, who has spent 27 years on death row in Oklahoma for a murder he insists he did not commit. In a 5-3 decision, the court reversed an Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruling following a request for a new trial from both Glossip and the state's Republican attorney general. Glossip, now 62, was convicted in the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese, the owner of a motel where Glossip worked, and has had nine execution dates postponed.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the majority, declared that the prosecution had failed its constitutional duty to correct misleading testimony during the trial. Her opinion was supported by Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and conservatives Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts, although Justice Amy Coney Barrett called for more proceedings. Justice Neil Gorsuch abstained from the case.
Glossip's lawyer, Don Knight, hailed the ruling as a triumph for justice, stating it provides Glossip with an opportunity for a fair trial that has eluded him in the past. The decision now falls to Oklahoma prosecutors, who must decide how to navigate the case moving forward.
Glossip has consistently declared his innocence regarding the violent crime, which occurred when his colleague Justin Sneed, who pled guilty to the murder, accused Glossip of orchestrating the act and rewarded his testimony with a plea deal. New evidence presented revealed that the prosecution had not disclosed Sneed's history of psychiatric issues, a fact Justice Sotomayor emphasized could have severely undermined Sneed's reliability.
Since his initial conviction in 1998, which was overturned in 2001, Glossip’s legal battle has drawn support from various high-profile figures including Pope Francis and Kim Kardashian. As he awaits new trial proceedings, the case continues to attract national attention concerning the integrity of the justice system and the death penalty in the US.
