A fresh murder trial is set to begin in September for Richard Glossip, the former Oklahoma death row prisoner who spent decades awaiting execution and came within hours of being put to death three times before the Supreme Court threw out his conviction last year.
Glossip, 63, was granted bond in May and walked out of prison for the first time since his 1997 arrest on murder charges. He had been convicted and sentenced to death in connection with the killing of his former employer, Barry Van Treese, owner of the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. Van Treese died after being beaten with a baseball bat, court records say.
Glossip’s lawyers had urged the state judge who approved his release on bond to examine whether prosecutors had enough evidence to put him on trial again. Following a hearing Tuesday, however, the judge ruled that the new trial will begin Sept. 28.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has said the state will again prosecute Glossip on a first-degree murder charge, though he will not seek another death sentence.
“We are pleased with the ruling,” spokesperson Leslie Berger said in an email.
Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, declined to comment.
AP Photo/Nick Oxford, File
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Prosecutors have long described Van Treese’s killing as a murder-for-hire plot. They alleged Glossip arranged the killing, while co-defendant Justin Sneed testified against him as part of an effort to avoid the death penalty. Sneed was the only witness who directly tied Glossip to the crime.
But the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors permitted Sneed to testify falsely about his mental health history despite knowing the testimony was untrue, violating Glossip’s constitutional right to a fair trial. Drummond also agreed that Glossip should receive a new trial.
Glossip has maintained his innocence and has drawn support from Kim Kardashian and other prominent figures. Van Treese’s family had asked the Supreme Court to leave Glossip’s conviction and sentence intact.
During Glossip’s time on death row, Oklahoma courts set nine different execution dates for him. He came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals.
Each time, he was spared because of questions about Oklahoma’s planned procedures for lethal injection. In 2015, he was even held in a cell next to Oklahoma’s execution chamber, waiting to be strapped to a gurney and die by lethal injection, when the state’s governor put executions on hold to review its execution protocols.
