The US Supreme Court grants Oklahoma Death Row held Richard Glossip New Process

Washington – US Supreme Court has thrown Oklahoma Death Row The condemnation of prisoners Richard Glossip for a 1997 rental plot and granted a new trial, concluding on Tuesday that prosecutors have violated their constitutional debt to correct their false testimony.

Justice, in a 5-3 decision, authorized by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, reversed the decision of a lower court that confirmed the conviction of Glossip and allowed his planned execution to submit, despite his statements that the prosecutors misunderstood the evidence. which could help his defense.

“We conclude that the criminal prosecution has violated the constitutional obligation to correct the false testimony,” wrote Sotomayor.

The chief judge John Roberts and the conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh joined the three liberal members of the court to form a majority.

Don Knight, a Glossip lawyer, called the decision “a victory for justice and fairness in our judicial system”.

“We are grateful that a clear majority of the court supports the long -term precedent that prosecutors cannot hide critical evidence from defense lawyers and cannot bear while their witnesses are aware of the jury,” Knight said.

“Rich Glossip, which has maintained its 27 -year -old innocence, will now receive the chance to have the fair process that he has always been refused,” Knight added.

During the arguments of October 9 in this case, justice tested whether an Oklahoma court has weighed the recently revealed information about which Glossip lawyers said they would have helped his defense and which the General Prosecutor of the State, Gentner Drummond, called him wrongly detained by prosecutors. Drummond, Republican, supported Glossip’s call.

Glossip’s lawyers asked the justice to throw their conviction and give them a new trial, after the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Criminal and confirmed the death penalty, despite the potentially excluding evidence found in an independent investigation ordered last year. from Drummond.

Glossip, now 62 -year -old, was convicted of putting the killing of Barry Van Treese, the owner of the best Han Motel budget in Oklahoma City, where Glossip was a manager. All parties agree that Van Treese was fatally beaten with a baseball stick by maintenance worker Justin Sneed. Sneed confessed the crime, but avoided the capital punishment, accepting a plea agreement that involved the testimony that Glossip paid $ 10,000 to do it.

Ensuring a condemnation of murder against Glossip was hanging on Sneed’s testimony, which was dependent on methamphetamine. Glossip acknowledged that he helped Sneed to cover the crime after he took place, but denied that Sneed was planning to kill Van Treese or encourage him to do so.

In 2023, the Supreme Court stopped the scheduled execution of Glossip while his appeal continued.

The evidence revealed in 2023 by Drummond-Including notes written by a prosecutor from a meeting with Sneed has questioned Sneed’s credibility, according to Glossip’s lawyers.

They claimed that they were kept in the darkness of Sneed received psychiatric treatment for bipolar disorder immediately after his arrest and that prosecutors failed to correct Sneed’s false statement for the prescription for the Lithium drug.

As the Attorney General of Oklahoma supported Glossip’s call, the Supreme Court reached an external lawyer, Private Lawyer Christopher Michel, to argue that he will support Glossip’s conviction.

Drummond became an unlikely ally of Glossip after the investigation he ordered -led to conclude that the prosecutors hid evidence that could have led to a acquittal. Although Drummond said he believes that the role of Glossip in covering the killing of Van Treese makes him at least one “accessory after the fact”, justifying a long prison sentence, the sentence to Glossip murder was too defective to defend him.

The victim’s family, represented by former federal judge Paul Cassell, submitted information to the Supreme Court, saying: “The truth is that no evidence was suppressed and Glossip ordered the killing of Barry Van Treese.”

The justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the case, apparently because he was occupied earlier with the problem while serving in a lower court.

By John Kruzel, Reuters