OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma's Attorney General Gentner Drummond supports death row inmate Richard Glossip's petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. He filed a brief that supports Glossip's action for lower courts to prepare documents for Supreme Courts review in his case.
Glossip was originally charged with accessory to murder in 1977 for the death of his boss, Barry Van Treese. In 1978 he was convicted of first-degree murder. A coworker confessed to beating and killing Treese but took a plea deal to avoid the death penalty testifying that Glossip offered to pay him for the killing. Glossip was later sentence to the death penalty in Oklahoma.
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Drummond expresses his doubts about a fair trial after he believes the star witness may have been coerced into testifying against Glossip. The brief says:
The conviction in this case was obtained through false testimony that the prosecution elicited but failed to correct from the most indispensable witness at Glossip’s second trial – indeed, from the person who actually delivered the fatal blows to the victim and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors to avoid facing the death penalty himself.
With this information, plus [the co-worker’s] history of drug addiction, the State believes that a qualified defense attorney likely could have attacked … [the co-worker’s] ability to properly recall key facts at the second trial and provide a viable alternative theory of the case that did not involve Glossip.
At the very least, there is a reasonable probability that evidence casting doubt on a centerpiece of the State’s theory would have been enough to persuade a juror to reject the death penalty.
Drummond calls for the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate and remand the case back to district courts to reevaluate their previous decision.
Drummond writes that he opposes the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals' decision to reject Glossip's application for post-conviction relief. The decision came as the State has admits extreme errors in the case.
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