In a move that could soon end nearly 30 years of continuous incarceration, an Oklahoma judge has granted bond to Richard Glossip. The 63-year-old, who has narrowly escaped execution three times, is now eligible for release while he awaits a third trial for the 1997 killing of motel owner Barry Van Treese.
Judge Natalie Mai set the bond at $500,000 on Thursday, attaching strict conditions to the potential release. Glossip must remain in Oklahoma, wear an electronic monitor, and avoid contact with any witnesses. The ruling marks a historic shift in one of the most high-profile and contested capital cases in United States history.
The prosecution’s case dates back to January 7, 1997, when Barry Van Treese, 54, was found beaten to death with a baseball bat in Room 102 of the Best Budget Inn in Oklahoma City.
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Glossip, who was the motel manager at the time, was accused of masterminding a murder-for-hire plot to prevent Van Treese from discovering he had embezzled funds.
The state’s primary evidence rests on the testimony of Justin Sneed, the motel’s maintenance man. Sneed confessed to the physical killing but claimed Glossip pressured him into the act with a promise of $10,000. While Sneed received a life sentence in exchange for his testimony, Glossip was sentenced to death.
Glossip’s defense team tells a different story. They argue that Sneed acted alone during a botched robbery intended to secure drug money and only implicated Glossip to escape the death penalty. According to his attorneys, Sneed even considered recanting his testimony in later years.
Glossip has been convicted and sentenced to death twice. His first conviction in 1998 was overturned in 2001 due to ineffective legal counsel. He was convicted again during a 2004 retrial, leading to years of appeals and scheduled executions.
The closest Glossip came to death was on September 30, 2015. Just three hours before the scheduled lethal injection, a doctor discovered that a pharmacist had supplied the wrong drug for the procedure. The execution was halted, eventually leading to a six-year moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma as the state reevaluated its protocols.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his second conviction after finding that prosecutors had allowed Sneed to provide false testimony regarding his mental health and treatment.
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The case has become a cause célèbre, attracting a roster of high-profile advocates who argue Glossip is an innocent man caught in a broken system.
- Kim Kardashian has been a vocal supporter, posting on X that Glossip “deserves a full pardon” and stating, “We cannot execute another man especially for a crime he didn’t commit!”
- Dr. Phil McGraw spoke at a rally for Glossip in 2023, telling the crowd, “If you do the crime, you should do the time. But if you’re doing time and didn’t commit the crime, that’s a crime.”
- Susan Sarandon, who won an Oscar for her role in the anti-death penalty film Dead Man Walking, has actively supported the legal team’s efforts to find proof of his innocence.
David Weiss, who co-led a pro bono investigation into the case, noted that the level of effort required to convince the Supreme Court of the trial’s flaws “suggests that our system of justice needs serious reform.”
While Glossip can now post bond at any time, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has made it clear the state still intends to prosecute him for murder, though they will no longer pursue the death penalty.
A date for the third trial has not yet been set. In her ruling, Judge Mai emphasized her expectation for a “rigorous” prosecution and “robust” defense.
“The court hopes that a new trial, free of error, will provide all interested parties and the citizens of Oklahoma the closure they deserve,” she wrote. For Glossip, that trial represents a final chance to clear his name after a lifetime spent in the shadow of the gallows.
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