Attorney General Gentner Drummond was in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) today for oral arguments in Glossip v. Oklahoma. Attorney Paul Clement argued on behalf of the State of Oklahoma that death row inmate Richard Glossip’s conviction should be vacated and be remanded back to district court due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Clement shared with SCOTUS today that prosecutors committed a Brady violation by not sharing potentially exculpatory evidence with the defendant and violated Napue by knowingly allowing false testimony that prevented Glossip from receiving a fair trial.
Glossip has been on Oklahoma’s death row for 26 years. He was initially charged with accessory to murder in January 1997, after the murder of his boss, Barry Van Treese, who owned an Oklahoma City motel. A co-worker of Glossip’s, Justin Sneed, confessed to beating Van Treese to death in a room at the motel. As part of a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty, Sneed testified that Glossip – who had admitted to helping cover up the murder – paid him for the killing. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed was sentenced to life in prison without parole while Glossip received a death sentence for first-degree murder.
In court testimony, Sneed wrongly claimed he was not receiving medical treatment for mental issues when prosecutors knew he had been prescribed lithium for a psychiatric condition. Evidence indicates prosecutors knew the testimony was false but allowed it to stand.
“Attorney General Drummond did not confess error lightly,” Clement said at today’s hearing. “Indeed, he continues to support capital cases, but reached the conclusion that Brady and Napue obligated him to confess error.”
Drummond said justice demands that Glossip receive a fair trial.
“Oklahomans deserve to have absolute faith that the death penalty is administered fairly and with certainty,” he said. “Considering everything we know about this case, justice is not served by executing a man based on the testimony of a compromised witness.”
The Glossip case has been long dogged by doubt and controversy and Drummond began seeking answers shortly after he took office as attorney general in 2023. He quickly learned that the State had long withheld a box of materials from Glossip’s defense team. Drummond promptly provided access to those materials, referred to as “Box 8,” and appointed an Independent Counsel to conduct a comprehensive review of the case.
Following the independent review, which documented multiple instances of error that cast doubt on the conviction, Drummond filed a motion in April 2023 with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) to set aside Glossip’s conviction and remand the case to district court. Despite the State’s confession of error, the OCCA upheld Glossip’s conviction and death sentence.
SCOTUS is expected to rule on the case by June 2025.
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