Entries tagged with “Richard Glossip”

United States Supreme Court

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Prosecutorial Accountability

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Oct 08, 2024

United States Supreme Court Will Consider Significance of Prosecutor’s Confession of Error in Glossip v. Oklahoma

On October 9, 2024, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argu­ments in Glossip v. Oklahoma, when the Court will con­sid­er mul­ti­ple ques­tions relat­ed to Richard Glossip’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. This is Mr. Glossip’s sec­ond trip to the Supreme Court; the first occurred in 2015 in con­nec­tion with his method of exe­cu­tion chal­lenge. Mr. Glossip has always main­tained his inno­cence of the 1997 ​“mur­der for hire” crime that sent him to death row. In the inter­ven­ing years, he has…

Arbitrariness

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Sentencing Alternatives

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Oct 04, 2024

A Chance at Life, Withdrawn: When Politics Interferes with Plea Deals

American pros­e­cu­tors have immense pow­er and rel­a­tive­ly unchecked dis­cre­tion in cap­i­tal cas­es. But in sev­er­al recent cas­es, death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers reached agree­ments with pros­e­cu­tors that would have saved them from exe­cu­tion, only to learn that anoth­er offi­cial had inter­fered to block the agree­ment. Critics have argued that these deci­sions sow pub­lic dis­trust in the legal process and raise con­cerns that gov­ern­ment offi­cials may be exploit­ing death penal­ty cas­es for political…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Jul 03, 2024

The 200th Exoneration Underscores Critical Flaws in the U.S. Criminal Legal System; Other Innocent Prisoners Remain on Death Row

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s land­mark rul­ing in Furman v. Georgia (1972), 200 death-sen­tenced men and women across 30 states have been exon­er­at­ed. Analysis from the Death Penalty Information Center reveals these indi­vid­u­als have col­lec­tive­ly spent 2,621 years in harsh prison con­di­tions for crimes they did not com­mit. On aver­age, death row exonerees spent 13 years under the sen­tence of death before their exon­er­a­tions, with some indi­vid­u­als spend­ing more than 40 years fight­ing to prove…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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May 07, 2024

In Amicus Briefs, Conservative Officials, Oklahoma Lawmakers, and Civil Rights Groups are United in Urging the U.S. Supreme Court to Vacate Richard Glossip’s Conviction

On April 30, 2024, a week after the par­ties in Glossip v. Oklahoma filed mer­its briefs at the United States Supreme Court, sev­er­al ami­ci filed briefs in sup­port of the par­ties’ joint posi­tion, ask­ing the Court to grant Richard Glossip (pic­tured) a new tri­al. Ken Cuccinelli, the for­mer Virginia Attorney General and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump, said in his brief that the con­se­quences of fail­ing to over­turn Mr. Glossip’s con­vic­tion are ​“most dire.”…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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Mar 05, 2024

Oklahoma Execution Moratorium Bill Unanimously Passes Committee and Makes Its Way to the State-House Floor

On February 28, 2023, the Oklahoma House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee unan­i­mous­ly passed a bill that would pause all pend­ing exe­cu­tions and pro­hib­it new death sen­tences while an inde­pen­dent task force reviews cur­rent Oklahoma death penal­ty pro­ce­dures. House Bill 3138, also known as the Death Penalty Moratorium Act, was intro­duced by Republican Representative Kevin McDugle and would cre­ate a five-mem­ber Death Penalty Reform Task Force to ​“study and report on the progress of…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Prosecutorial Accountability

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United States Supreme Court

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Jan 22, 2024

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Richard Glossip’s Appeal: High-Profile Innocence Case Where the State Supports Relief

On January 22, the Supreme Court grant­ed cer­tio­rari to Richard Glossip, sen­tenced to death in Oklahoma, whose inno­cence case has received inter­na­tion­al atten­tion. Mr. Glossip’s exe­cu­tion had been sched­uled for May 18, 2023, before the Court issued a stay on May 5 pend­ing the out­come of his peti­tions for cer­tio­rari. Mr. Glossip’s case is unusu­al in that the State of Oklahoma con­ced­ed error and sup­ports his request for a new tri­al. However, Mr. Glossip was forced to peti­tion the Supreme Court…

Facts & Research

United States Supreme Court

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Federal Death Penalty

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Oct 03, 2023

Analysis Shows Supreme Court’s Changing View of Death Penalty Cases

A recent analy­sis by Bloomberg Law con­clud­ed that death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers have few­er avenues to relief at the Supreme Court than ever before. Bloomberg iden­ti­fied 270 emer­gency requests to stay exe­cu­tions since 2013 and found that the Court agreed to block an exe­cu­tion just 11 times. Since 2020, when the Court shift­ed to a 6 – 3 con­ser­v­a­tive major­i­ty fol­low­ing the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the appoint­ment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Court has grant­ed just…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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Jul 10, 2023

Oklahoma Attorney General Files SCOTUS Brief in Support of Richard Glossip

On July 5, 2023, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (pic­tured) filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in sup­port of death row pris­on­er Richard Glossip’s peti­tion for a writ of cer­tio­rari. The Innocence Project and six legal schol­ars have also filed briefs in sup­port of Mr. Glossip, while the victim’s fam­i­ly and the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association have filed a brief in…

Facts & Research

United States Supreme Court

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Jun 08, 2023

Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Expresses Continued Frustration with the Fair Administration of the Death Penalty

In a recent inter­view with The Marshall Project, for­mer United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer dis­cussed his twen­ty-eight years of expe­ri­ence on the Court and the evo­lu­tion of his view on the death penal­ty. He explained that he did not go to the Supreme Court intend­ing to over­turn the death penal­ty, but “[i]t’s so unfair­ly admin­is­tered. There’s nei­ther rhyme nor rea­son. The whole point of this crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is fair­ness.… I’m not say­ing, ​‘You’re all inno­cent.’ But…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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May 25, 2023

Former U.S. Attorneys, Prominent Business Leaders, Write Op-Eds in Support of Richard Glossip

Former fed­er­al Oklahoma pros­e­cu­tors Patrick Ryan and Daniel Webber co-authored an edi­to­r­i­al in The Oklahoman on May 17, 2023 express­ing seri­ous con­cerns about Richard Glossip’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. The writ­ers not­ed that a prosecutor’s duty ​“is not to win a case, but to ensure jus­tice is done,” and con­clud­ed that ​“the state did not fol­low these fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ples in obtain­ing Richard Glossip’s 1998 and 2004 con­vic­tions and death sen­tences.” The for­mer pros­e­cu­tors collectively…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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May 05, 2023

CASE UPDATE: U.S. Supreme Court Stays Glossip Execution

(ORDER LIST: 598 U.S.) FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2023 ORDER IN PENDING CASE 22A941 GLOSSIP, RICHARD E. V. OKLAHOMA The appli­ca­tion for stay of exe­cu­tion of sen­tence of death pre­sent­ed to Justice Kavanaugh and by him referred to the Court is grant­ed pend­ing the dis­po­si­tion of the peti­tions for writs of cer­tio­rari, Nos. 22 – 6500 and 22 – 7466. Should both peti­tions for writs of cer­tio­rari be denied, this stay shall ter­mi­nate auto­mat­i­cal­ly. In the event either peti­tion for a writ of cer­tio­rari is grant­ed, the…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Apr 26, 2023

Case Update: Oklahoma Board Denies Clemency for Richard Glossip

On April 26, the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to rec­om­mend clemen­cy for death-row pris­on­er Richard Glossip (pic­tured), who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on May 18, 2023. The board’s 2 – 2 vote con­sti­tut­ed a denial of clemen­cy since the gov­er­nor can­not grant clemen­cy with­out the board’s…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Apr 21, 2023

Case Update: Oklahoma Court Upholds Richard Glossip’s Conviction

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled against Richard Glossip (pic­tured) on April 20, 2023, despite a motion from the state’s Attorney General ask­ing the court to vacate Glossip’s con­vic­tion and remand the case to a low­er court. Glossip is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on May 18 but has con­sis­tent­ly main­tained his inno­cence. In a state­ment react­ing to the rul­ing, Glossip’s attor­ney, Don Knight, said, ​“Since the State now agrees that the only wit­ness to allege that Mr. Glossip was involved in…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Apr 07, 2023

Oklahoma Attorney General Moves to Vacate the Murder Conviction of Richard Glossip

On April 6, 2023, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to vacate Richard Glossip’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence and to remand the case to the District Court for fur­ther pro­ceed­ings. He cit­ed the U.S. Supreme Court’s admo­ni­tion that the prosecutor’s inter­est is ​“not that it shall win a case, but that jus­tice shall be…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Upcoming Executions

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Jan 27, 2023

Oklahoma Attorney General Appoints Special Counsel to Conduct ​‘Thorough Review’ of Richard Glossip’s Case

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has appoint­ed a spe­cial coun­sel to con­duct a ​‘thor­ough review’ of the case of death-row pris­on­er Richard Glossip, who has faced nine exe­cu­tion dates despite strong evi­dence that he is inno­cent of the 1997 alleged mur­der-for-hire of an Oklahoma City motel own­er. In a news release issued January 26, 2023, two days after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals resched­uled Glossip’s exe­cu­tion from…

Executions

Jan 12, 2023

Oklahoma Carries Out First of 11 Executions Scheduled for 2023

Oklahoma has car­ried out the first of eleven exe­cu­tions sched­uled for 2023, admin­is­ter­ing a lethal injec­tion to death-row pris­on­er Scott Eizember on January 12. The exe­cu­tion was a con­tin­u­a­tion of a 29-month exe­cu­tion spree between August 2022 and December 2024 in which the state intends to put 25 pris­on­ers to death — 58% of the state’s death…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Upcoming Executions

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Nov 21, 2022

Oklahoma Pushes Back Clemency Hearings, Changing Execution Timelines

Oklahoma has pushed back the clemen­cy hear­ings of two men on death row, John Hanson and Richard Glossip (pic­tured). Glossip’s exe­cu­tion date was also moved back, and Hanson’s exe­cu­tion date will like­ly have to be changed. Both men were sched­uled to have clemen­cy hear­ings on Nov. 9, 2022, and to be exe­cut­ed before the end of the year, as part of Oklahoma’s planned spree of 25 exe­cu­tions sched­uled between August 2022 and December 2024. The state’s deci­sion to exe­cute so many peo­ple in a short…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Prosecutorial Accountability

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Sep 28, 2022

Oklahoma Lawmaker Calls for Investigation of Prosecutor for Deliberately Withholding Evidence of Innocence in Richard Glossip Retrial

An Oklahoma state rep­re­sen­ta­tive has called for an inves­ti­ga­tion into the prac­tices of the Oklahoma County District Attorney​’s office fol­low­ing addi­tion­al rev­e­la­tions that coun­ty pros­e­cu­tors delib­er­ate­ly with­held excul­pa­to­ry evi­dence and man­u­fac­tured false tes­ti­mo­ny to secure a con­vic­tion and death sen­tence against Richard Glossip in his 2004…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Upcoming Executions

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Aug 17, 2022

Oklahoma Governor Delays Richard Glossip’s Execution to Allow Litigation of Innocence Claims

Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt has issued a 60-day stay of exe­cu­tion to death-row pris­on­er Richard Glossip. The order, issued August 16, 2022, delays Glossip’s September 22 exe­cu­tion to pro­vide the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals time to review a pend­ing motion by Glossip seek­ing an evi­den­tiary hear­ing on new evi­dence that he is inno­cent of the 1997 mur­der of Barry Van Treese, his boss at an Oklahoma City motel. Glossip filed that motion…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Innocence

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Upcoming Executions

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Time on Death Row

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Jul 19, 2022

Commentary: Richard Glossip’s Case Exemplifies the Systemic Flaws that Justice Stephen Breyer Warned About

As Richard Glossip faces an exe­cu­tion date for the fourth time, his case is a per­fect exam­ple of the prob­lems in the death-penal­ty sys­tem that then-Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (pic­tured) iden­ti­fied in his 2015 land­mark dis­sent in Glossip v. Gross. In an analy­sis pub­lished by Slate, Jeremy Stahl writes, ​“Whether or not Richard Glossip is ulti­mate­ly exe­cut­ed for a crime he like­ly did not com­mit, his and Breyer’s names will be…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Jun 17, 2022

Oklahoma Legislature Releases Independent Review of Richard Glossip Case

Oklahoma leg­is­la­tors announced that an inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tion revealed strong evi­dence of Richard Glossip​’s inno­cence. Glossip, who came with­in hours of exe­cu­tion in 2015, is the sec­ond pris­on­er the Oklahoma Attorney General is seek­ing to exe­cute this fall. After the inves­ti­ga­tion report was released, Glossip’s attor­neys filed a motion in the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, ask­ing that an exe­cu­tion date not be set so that Glossip can seek…

Executions

Executions Overview

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Feb 18, 2022

Oklahoma County Becomes Nation’s Third Most Prolific County Executioner as State Puts Intellectually Impaired Teen Offender to Death

When Oklahoma exe­cut­ed Gilbert Postelle on February 17, 2022, it came with a dubi­ous dis­tinc­tion. The intel­lec­tu­al­ly impaired man who was 18 years old at the time of his offense became the 44th per­son pros­e­cut­ed in Oklahoma County to be put to death since exe­cu­tions resumed in the U.S. in 1977. His death made the coun­ty the nation’s third-most pro­lif­ic coun­ty exe­cu­tion­er over the past half-cen­tu­ry, tied with Tarrant and Bexar coun­ties in…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Feb 14, 2022

Autopsy Shows John Grant Suffered Pulmonary Edema and Intramuscular Hemorrhage and Aspirated Vomit During Oklahoma Execution

Autopsy results for an Oklahoma death-row pris­on­er whose exe­cu­tion state offi­cials claimed ​“was car­ried out … with­out com­pli­ca­tion” have con­firmed eye­wit­ness reports that John Grant like­ly suf­fered a tor­tur­ous death. The autop­sy, con­duct­ed by Tulsa Medical Examiner Jeremy Shelton, M.D., the morn­ing after Grant was exe­cut­ed on October 28, 2021, revealed that Grant suf­fered pul­monary ede­ma and intra­mus­cu­lar hem­or­rhag­ing, and aspi­rat­ed on his vom­it as a result…

Executions

Lethal Injection

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Feb 10, 2022

Oklahoma is Paying Execution Doctor $15,000 Plus Training Fees for Each Execution

Oklahoma is pay­ing $15,000 per exe­cu­tion, plus $1,000 for each day of train­ing, to an unnamed doc­tor to par­tic­i­pate in the process of putting state pris­on­ers to death. Under the agree­ment, the doc­tor stood to receive an esti­mat­ed $130,000 over the course of the 19-week-peri­od between October 28, 2021 and March 10, 2022 in which the state had sched­uled the exe­cu­tions of seven…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Oct 29, 2021

Eyewitnesses Report John Grant Experienced Repeated ​‘Full-Body Convulsions’ and Vomited During Execution; Oklahoma Says Execution was Carried Out ​‘Without Complication’

Oklahoma​’s lega­cy of botched exe­cu­tions has con­tin­ued to grow, as media wit­ness­es to the October 28, 2021 exe­cu­tion of John Grant (pic­tured) report­ed that Grant suf­fered repeat­ed con­vul­sions and vom­it­ed over a near­ly 15-minute peri­od after he was admin­is­tered the con­tro­ver­sial exe­cu­tion drug…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Jun 23, 2021

As More Evidence of Innocence Emerges, 34 Oklahoma Legislators Call on Governor for Investigation of Death-Row Prisoner Richard Glossip’s Conviction

Following addi­tion­al rev­e­la­tions that Richard Glossip (pic­tured) may be inno­cent of the mur­der that sent him to Oklahoma​’s death row in 1998, a bipar­ti­san group of 34 state leg­is­la­tors are call­ing upon Governor Kevin Stitt and the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to con­duct an inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tion into Glossip’s…

Executions

Lethal Injection

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State by State

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Mar 02, 2020

Oklahoma Prisoners Challenge New Execution Protocol in Federal Court

Less than two weeks after Oklahoma offi­cials announced that the state would return to the same con­tro­ver­sial three-drug exe­cu­tion pro­to­col impli­cat­ed in a series of botched exe­cu­tions in 2014 and 2015, the state’s death-row pris­on­ers have asked a fed­er­al court to reac­ti­vate their law­suit chal­leng­ing the state’s exe­cu­tion process. The February 27, 2020 fil­ing in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma called the new pro­to­col ​“incom­plete” and said…

Executions

Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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May 20, 2016

Oklahoma Grand Jury Issues Report Detailing ​“Blatant Violations” of the State’s Execution Protocol

Following sev­en months of inves­ti­ga­tion into the caus­es of Oklahoma​’s botched exe­cu­tion of Charles Warner using an unau­tho­rized exe­cu­tion drug and its near-exe­cu­tion of Richard Glossip with the same wrong drug, an Oklahoma grand jury issued a report on May 19 iden­ti­fy­ing a wide range of what it char­ac­ter­ized as ​“neg­li­gent,” ​“care­less,” and in some instances ​“reck­less” con­duct by state offi­cials that devi­at­ed from the state’s…