Another reprieve for this prisoner. The United States Supreme Court agreed Monday to accept an appeal from a convicted man who has been on death row for more than 25 years and whose fate has sparked a campaign of support from everyone from the pope to Hollywood stars.
In May, the court had already granted a stay of the execution of 60-year-old Richard Glossip, which was originally scheduled for May 18 in Oklahoma (center). In unusual circumstances, the attorney general of this conservative state supported this request for a stay, recognizing problems in the testimony that led to his conviction.
One of the condemned man's lawyers, John Mills, declared himself “grateful” and recalled that his client “proclaimed his innocence throughout the quarter century he spent unjustly on death row.”
“Mr. Glossip was on the verge of execution nine times, even though the prosecution knew full well that the evidence that sentenced him to death was false,” he said.
He was convicted of ordering the murder of the owner of a motel he managed in 1997, based on the highly controversial testimony of 19-year-old Justin Sneed, who confessed to the murder.
A letter of support from the Pope
Richard Glossip's supporters denounce the fact that his conviction was based on the sole testimony of Justin Sneed, who, through his admission of guilt and incrimination, was able to avoid the death penalty.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, without declaring him innocent, called for his conviction to be overturned, but it was upheld on appeal by the state judiciary in April 2023.
Richard Glossip benefits from an endorsement campaign that brings together the likes of actors Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo, as well as billionaire Richard Branson.
In September 2015, when his execution seemed imminent, Pope Francis' representative in the United States wrote a letter to the governor of Oklahoma asking for a stay, which was ultimately only granted due to doubts about a product that in the cocktail of lethal substances used was the administration of a lethal injection.
His story was the subject of a four-part documentary series called “Killing Richard Glossip.”
The first US execution scheduled for 2024, that of Kenneth Smith on January 25, is to be carried out by nitrogen inhalation, which would be a world first. In this type of execution, death is caused by hypoxia (lack of oxygen).