Death row inmate Richard Glossip is denied another bid to vacate murder conviction, execution set for May 18

By Brynn Gingras, Linh Tran and Emma Tucker, CNN

Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip on Thursday was denied another appeal to vacate his murder conviction in the death of his boss in 1997 and still faces execution in May.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals decision comes two weeks after a special counsel report recommended Glossip’s capital murder conviction be vacated and that he be granted a new trial, citing newly uncovered evidence in his case.

The former motel manager, who has been behind bars for 26 years, was convicted in 1998 of capital murder for ordering the killing of his boss, Barry Van Treese.

Glossip, 60, has insisted he was not involved in the killing and has narrowly avoided death three times, as previous execution dates ended with reprieves or stays of execution. In January, he learned of his ninth execution date: May 18.

In a 5-0 ruling, the appeals court justices wrote, “Glossip has exhausted every avenue and we have found no legal or factual ground which would require relief in this case.”

Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, relayed his conversation with Glossip after the ruling in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday: “He said today to me, ‘Don, should I be prepared to be killed on May 18?’ That was about as low a point as I’ve seen him, and this is his ninth execution date. This is tough. He’s been down this road far too many times. No one should have to endure that.”

Earlier this year, state Attorney General Gentner F. Drummond appointed an independent special counsel to lead a review of the circumstances surrounding Glossip’s case. Knight called it “hugely significant,” and “the right thing to do.”

“It is my responsibility to ensure that we are appropriately responding to all evidence that has been presented through Mr. Glossip’s conviction and incarceration,” Drummond said in a statement.

Glossip maintains innocence

Another employee, then-19-year-old Justin Sneed, admitted to killing Van Treese with a baseball bat in Oklahoma City. But prosecutors told jurors Sneed did so in a murder-for-hire plot masterminded by Glossip. Sneed received a life sentence in exchange for his testimony against Glossip.

Among the evidence included in the special counsel report was paperwork showing Sneed wanted to recant his testimony, writing to his attorney: “There are a lot of things right now that are eating at me. Somethings I need to clean up.”

The report concluded Glossip’s murder conviction should be vacated and he be granted a new trial.

Drummond agreed with the findings and petitioned the court to grant Glossip a new day in court, while also making it clear he wasn’t suggesting Glossip was innocent.

On Thursday, the justices ruled Drummond’s “‘concession’ does not directly provide statutory or legal grounds for relief in this case,” the opinion reads.

“Oklahoma’s elected Attorney General Gentner Drummond found, after conducting his own independent review, that the State’s star witness against Mr. Glossip, Justin Sneed, was not a truthful witness. It is unconscionable for the court to attempt to force the State to move forward with his execution,” Knight, Glossip’s attorney, said in a statement after the ruling.

Drummond said he “respected” the court’s opinion, but said he wasn’t “willing to allow an execution to proceed despite so many doubts.” His office said it was reviewing what next steps it could take.

“When the attorney general of the state of Oklahoma says that he thinks that this witness makes material misstatements — that’s now undisputed,” Knight told CNN’s Tapper on Thursday.

“So, there’s no reason to believe that witness at all. So we’ve got a person who was the only one that has said Richard Glossip had anything to do with this, is now an admitted liar and the court won’t see through that and allow a new trial,” the attorney added.

Knight says he plans to appeal the ruling before the US Supreme Court.

Lawmakers to change statute

Republican state Rep. Kevin McDugle told CNN’s Tapper on Thursday he plans to ask Gov. Kevin Stitt to grant a 60-day stay of Glossip’s execution.

McDugle said lawmakers also plan to change the statue in Oklahoma’s post-conviction relief law within the next five to 10 days, which would allow the case to go back before the Court of Criminal Appeals for another ruling.

“We’re going to give them one more opportunity and if I can get this law changed and get the governor to sign it and make it retroactive, they’ll have one more chance,” McDugle said.

“If they deny this next chance, then I’ll be seeking impeachment for the judges here in the state of Oklahoma because it’s ridiculous to see the evidence in this case and for them to ignore it,” he added.

McDugle said he became convinced of Glossip’s innocence after seeing problems in the case, which he said include instances of witness tampering, missing and destroyed evidence, as well as Brady violations (when evidence is withheld from the defense).

Glossip’s defense team faces setbacks

Glossip was first sentenced in 1998, but that was overturned in 2001 because of ineffective defense counsel. He was again convicted in 2004 and again sentenced to death.

In 2015, Glossip was more than an hour past his execution time when the governor issued a stay based on the constitutionality of the state’s execution protocols.

In November, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied a petition for a hearing on new evidence in the case after international law firm Reed Smith released an explosive, more than 300-page report, that concluded, “No reasonable juror hearing the complete record would have convicted Richard Glossip of first-degree murder.”

The report was commissioned by a bipartisan group of 34 state lawmakers and led by state Rep. Kevin McDugle, who has vowed to repeal the death penalty in Oklahoma if Glossip is executed.

“It’s one of the scariest things, especially if you’re an innocent person, to know they’re going to take your life for something you had nothing to do with,” Glossip told CNN in an exclusive interview earlier this year.

“Anybody who looks at this case has to come to the same result and that’s what this whole purpose is, making sure everyone sees the truth,” said Glossip.

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