The Supreme Court threw out Richard Glossip's murder conviction and death sentence Tuesday, Fox News reported. The Oklahoma man was found guilty of hiring another man to kill his former boss in 1997.
Glossip was twice sentenced to death by a jury of his peers, but the Supreme Court granted him a new trial after it agreed there was prosecutorial misconduct in his trial. Now 62, Glossip has been on death row for decades for a murder for hire he possibly never committed.
A man named Justin Sneed, who later admitted to beating Best Budget Inn owner Barry Van Treese to death with a baseball bat, claimed he did so after Glossip offered him $10,000. Glossip feared he would be fired if Van Treese learned he'd been stealing from the business.
GOP Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond ordered a case review in 2023. Investigators found that potentially exculpatory evidence was withheld during the trial, namely that Sneed was being treated for bipolar disorder and was on drugs.
Only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented in the decision, but Justice Amy Coney Barrett believed the state's appeals courts should decide the matter. In the majority opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that "the prosecution violated its constitutional obligation to correct false testimony."
The Supreme Court found that "evidence of Sneed’s bipolar disorder, which could trigger impulsive violence when combined with his drug use, would have contradicted the prosecution’s portrayal of Sneed as harmless without Glossip’s influence." There was also a box of evidence that was destroyed.
According to Drummond's review, the evidence included masking tape, a shower curtain, and motel receipts that the convicted killer's attorney, Don Knight, failed to use. Meanwhile, Glossip has always claimed to be innocent despite two convictions.
In 1998, Glossip was convicted for the first time but granted a new trial upon appeal. His second 2004 trial also yielded a conviction, and Glossip has now spent nearly half his life behind bars.
The family of Van Treese still believes that Glossip should be put to death. Even with the convicted and sentence tossed, the state maintains that Glossip is likely not entirely innocent.
While the Supreme Court has granted a new trial, it doesn't mean Glossip is off the hook. The state believes he may be guilty of aiding and abetting a crime after the fact.
The crime does not carry a death, but still points to a possible role in the crime. Meanwhile, Drummond championed the Supreme Court's decision which will allow a new trial for Glossip free of the previous errors.
"The right to a fair trial is a fundamental protection of our liberty. I am grateful the Supreme Court agreed with what I have said since reading the independent counsel’s report: Richard Glossip did not receive a fair trial. We can all be thankful that a man who was unfairly convicted and sentenced to death no longer faces execution," Drummond posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
The right to a fair trial is a fundamental protection of our liberty. I am grateful the Supreme Court agreed with what I have said since reading the independent counsel’s report: Richard Glossip did not receive a fair trial. We can all be thankful that a man who was unfairly…
— Gentner Drummond (@gentnerdrummond) February 25, 2025
The justice system doesn't always get everything right, but there are mechanisms for rectifying the situation when there are mistakes. It's still unclear whether Glossip is entirely innocent, but at least he will have a new trial that is fair and unbiased.
