[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 16




OKLAHOMA----impending execution

Countdown to an Execution in Oklahoma


At 3 p.m. on Wednesday, the State of Oklahoma plans to execute Richard Glossip 
in the face of mounting evidence that he is innocent, as he has argued all 
along.

Mr. Glossip was convicted of masterminding the 1997 murder of a man named Barry 
Van Treese, who owned the motel where Mr. Glossip worked. The conviction was 
based on no physical evidence and relied largely on the testimony of Justin 
Sneed, the handyman who carried out the brutal killing with a baseball bat. Mr. 
Sneed is serving a life sentence without parole - a result of a deal he struck 
with prosecutors in exchange for testifying that he acted under Mr. Glossip's 
orders.

The execution was originally scheduled for January, but it was put on hold when 
the Supreme Court agreed to consider a claim, brought by Mr. Glossip and other 
death-row inmates, that Oklahoma's lethal-injection drug protocol would cause 
them severe pain and suffering. The court ruled against the inmates in June, 
and Oklahoma immediately rescheduled Mr. Glossip's execution.

This case pretty well sums up the state of the death penalty in America. 
Supporters like to say it is reserved for the "worst of the worst," but that is 
demonstrably untrue. It is more accurate to say that capital punishment is 
arbitrary, racist and meted out to those without the resources to defend 
themselves.

That was the conclusion of Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, who stopped all 
executions this year because of his concerns over "the accuracy and fundamental 
fairness" of the state's death sentencing system. Mr. Wolf pointed out a fact 
that is true for the whole country: Poor people and minority defendants are 
more likely to be charged with capital offenses, particularly when the victim 
is white.

And then there is the steady stream of exonerations of people who had been 
sentenced to death since 1973 - 155 and counting, with five in 2015 alone. Only 
last week, an Alabama man was released after nearly 10 years, 1/3 of that time 
on death row. Montez Spradley was originally sentenced to life in prison by a 
jury, but the judge overrode that verdict and sentenced him to death. As in the 
Glossip case, there was no physical evidence and the prosecution relied on the 
testimony of a tainted witness.

Bad lawyering is behind most death sentences, and Mr. Glossip's case is no 
exception. His first lawyer failed to introduce, among other things, Mr. 
Sneed's videotaped confession, during which police interrogators threatened him 
and said it "is definitely going to be better for you" to testify against Mr. 
Glossip.

An appeals court threw out the conviction, finding that the case against Mr. 
Glossip was "extremely weak" and that his lawyers were ineffective. In 2004, he 
was convicted by a second jury, which also did not see the Sneed confession. At 
least 1 juror has stepped forward to say that had this and other information 
been presented at trial, the vote would have been different.

Last year, Mr. Sneed's daughter wrote to the parole board to say she believes 
Mr. Glossip is innocent. Her father testified the way prosecutors wanted only 
to save his own life, she wrote, and would recant now but is afraid of losing 
his plea deal.

The Oklahoma County prosecutor, David Prater, has called the efforts to 
exonerate Mr. Glossip a PR campaign. That's a remarkably dismissive thing to 
say when a man's life is at stake. This case is yet another reminder that the 
death penalty - in addition to being immoral and ineffective - has already 
taken innocent lives, and as long as it exists it is likely to take more.

(source: Editorial, New York Times)

**************

This May Be Oklahoma Death Row Inmate Richard Glossip's Last Chance----"I don't 
want to die for something I didn't do."


Oklahoma plans to execute condemned killer Richard Glossip on Wednesday, 
despite fresh evidence supporting his claim of innocence. This will be the 
state's 3rd attempt to put Glossip to death.

With his state and federal appeals exhausted and Gov. Mary Fallin saying on 
Tuesday that she won't intervene, Glossip's last hope is a motion his lawyers 
filed with the state Court of Criminal Appeals based on the new evidence. He is 
scheduled to die at 3 p.m. local time.

Supporters of Glossip, 52, said they were outraged that his life hangs on the 
testimony of a convicted murderer who struck a plea deal to avoid execution 
himself. The man's daughter and his former cellblock neighbor both have said 
the testimony was false.

Defense lawyer Don Knight said he and his team can make the case for Glossip's 
innocence, but need more time to finish investigating evidence that Knight said 
wasn't fully explored by Glossip's original defense nearly 2 decades ago.

"We've gotten some work done, but there's a lot more to do," Knight said 
Monday.

In 1997, Best Budget Inn handyman Justin Sneed confessed to beating his boss, 
Barry Van Treese, to death with a baseball bat. A week later, Sneed said that 
Glossip, his supervisor at the motel, had instructed him to do it. Glossip was 
convicted of murder and sentenced to death during a 2004 retrial. Sneed is 
serving a life sentence at a medium-security prison after striking a deal to 
finger Glossip in the plot.

"I know Justin made up stuff to try and save his own life, and get a better 
deal: a life sentence on a soft yard," Michael Scott, Sneed's former cellblock 
neighbor, wrote in a sworn affidavit released Monday by Glossip's lawyers. "I 
heard Justin talking about the deal he made, and what he did to Richard. Justin 
was happy and proud of himself for selling Richard Glossip out."

The affidavit was among the pages of new information Glossip's lawyers cite as 
proof that Glossip's prior defense was incompetent and that Sneed lied.

The governor's office said Monday it would "take seriously" the lawyers' new 
information, but wasn't compelled to intervene because "the proper venue for 
this is in a court of law." Fallin's office said in a lengthy statement on 
Tuesday that it wouldn't act to delay the execution.

"It's been increasingly clear over the past couple weeks that they're not 
interested in a legal battle but a PR campaign," Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz 
said of Glossip's lawyers.

The governor's office has said postponing Glossip's execution would only "delay 
justice" for the victim's family.

Glossip's case gained widespread attention this year after he became the lead 
plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. 
Glossip challenged the lethal injection drug mixture that had caused several 
botched executions in Oklahoma. The Supreme Court decided in June that states 
may use sedatives in lethal injection drug cocktails.

Meanwhile, death penalty opponents, including Sister Helen Prejean and Barry 
Scheck, are leading public calls for a reprieve in light of the new evidence. 
The new material also includes sworn affidavits from Glossip's ex-girlfriend, 
who lived with him at the motel at the time of the killing, and the former 
cop-turned-lawyer who testified that detectives who questioned Glossip and 
Sneed had a history of abuse, misconduct and coercing wrongful confessions.

Glossip's team on Friday released newly discovered information from experts and 
witnesses, supporting the defense claim that Sneed lied to police to save 
himself from a death sentence.

Phil Cross, an investigative reporter for Oklahoma City's Fox 25, also has 
revealed discrepancies in the medical examiner's testimony that raise new 
questions about whether Glossip's jury in his retrial was misinformed. A juror 
from Glossip's original 1998 trial came forward this month, saying she would 
not have voted to convict him if she had known of the information now coming to 
light.

Nearly a year ago, Sneed's daughter wrote the Oklahoma clemency board to say 
that her father had talked about recanting his original testimony against 
Glossip, but fears he'll be the one to die if he does.

Glossip is among 49 inmates on Oklahoma's death row, and may be one of the few 
who never killed someone with his own hands.

"Actually, Rich asked me to kill Barry, that's what he'd done," Sneed told 
detectives, according to police transcripts.

Glossip admitted he made several "stupid" decisions after Van Treese's murder. 
Most notably, when Sneed showed up at Glossip's room with a black eye and said 
he'd killed Van Treese, Glossip failed to mention the detail to police. He 
later said he didn't take Sneed seriously.

Those confident in Glossip's guilt say he's a manipulative mastermind who 
enticed a vulnerable, 19-year-old drug addict to do his bidding.

Prosecutors said Sneed, who was living at the motel in exchange for maintenance 
work, was "totally dependent" on Glossip. The Best Budget Inn was in shabby 
condition and short on money. As manager, Glossip was responsible for both.

According to the state's theory, Glossip feared losing his job and recruited 
Sneed to kill Van Treese. Glossip could then convince Van Treese's widow to 
give him the Best Budget Inn and a second motel in Tulsa.

In exchange, prosecutors said, Sneed could take cash from Van Treese's car -- 
the motel receipts Van Treese collected from Glossip on each visit -- and the 
men would split the money.

Members of the Van Treese family did not respond to repeated attempts to 
contact them.

D-Anna Wood, Glossip's girlfriend at the time, said in a recently released 
affidavit that most people paid for motel rooms in cash.

"Richard could have taken that money and run off anytime he wanted," Wood 
wrote. "But Richard would never has stolen from Barry. Richard was too honest."

Knight is 1 of the 3 attorneys who earlier this year took up Glossip's case pro 
bono. He said 2 previous defense teams had made catastrophic mistakes.

Glossip's original trial was defended so poorly that the Oklahoma Court of 
Criminal Appeals overturned his 1st conviction. The state admitted its case was 
weak.

The State concedes the only 'direct evidence' connecting Appellant to the 
murder was Sneed's trial testimony. No forensic evidence linked Appellant to 
murder and no compelling evidence corroborated Sneed's testimony that Appellant 
was the mastermind behind the murder.

Glossip's first 2 defense teams never persuaded a court to accept a videotape 
of Sneed's police interview as evidence, and never confronted Sneed or the 
detectives with inconsistencies between the tape and their trial testimony.

In August, Glossip's legal team released a comprehensive list of 
inconsistencies in Sneed's testimony. It shows Sneed has given at least 8 
different accounts of the murder plot.

Oklahoma, 2nd only to Texas in the number of executions (and with the most 
executions per capita), has a far from perfect record on the death penalty. 
Since 1973, 10 people have been exonerated from Oklahoma's death row, according 
to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that tracks capital 
punishment data.

The specter of death doesn't appear to unnerve Glossip. 9 months ago, Glossip 
told HuffPost he came to terms with the state's zeal to kill him years ago. He 
remains hopeful for a repreive.

If the courts deny him, Glossip said he hopes the attention his case has 
generated will speed the demise of death penalty once and for all -- even if it 
happens too late to save him.

"If I gotta die, I at last want it to mean something," Glossip said. "I sure 
don't want to die, don't get me wrong. I don't want be a martyr. But I don't 
want to die for something I didn't do."

(source: Kim Bellware, Associate Chicago Editor, Huffington Post)

***********

Supporters of Richard Glossip rally on eve of Oklahoma execution ---- Lawyers 
and supporters say new evidence suggests convicted man was framed but governor 
and district attorney insist they are convinced of his guilt


But Glossip's lawyers asked the Oklahoma court of criminal appeals to halt the 
execution, saying they uncovered new details in the case, including a signed 
affidavit from an inmate who served time in prison with Justin Sneed, who was 
convicted of fatally beating Van Treese.

Sneed was the prosecution's key witness and testified that Glossip masterminded 
the killing because he was afraid Van Treese was about to fire him for 
embezzling money and poorly managing the motel. Sneed was sentenced to life in 
prison in exchange for his testimony.

A fellow inmate, Michael Scott, said in an affidavit that he heard Sneed say 
"he set Richard Glossip up, and that Richard Glossip didn't do anything".

"We're asking for a stay of execution to give the court more time to review 
this new evidence, which we think casts grave doubt on Richard's guilt," said 
Mark Henricksen, one of Glossip's attorneys.

Glossip maintained his innocence on Tuesday in a brief telephone interview with 
the Associated Press and said he remained optimistic his lethal injection would 
be halted. "They'll never take that from me," Glossip said. "I'll hope for the 
best. I won't let it bring me down.

"If you've got to go out ... you don't want to be bitter and angry about it."

Glossip's case has drawn attention from death penalty opponents, and his family 
and supporters rallied Tuesday at the Oklahoma Capitol. They want Republican 
Governor Mary Fallin to issue a 60-day stay to give Glossip's attorneys more 
time to investigate new leads.

But the governor said in a statement on Wednesday that she remained convinced 
of Glossip's guilt and "after carefully reviewing the facts of this case 
multiple times" had no plans to issue a stay.

Among his supports is Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon, who played a nun in the 
movie Dead Man Walking. The woman Sarandon portrayed, anti-death penalty 
advocate Sister Helen Prejean, serves as Glossip's spiritual adviser and plans 
to attend his execution on Wednesday.

The Oklahoma county district attorney David Prater, whose office prosecuted 
Glossip before Prater was elected, said he had reviewed boxes of evidence and 
was convinced of Glossip's guilt.

Glossip's execution is scheduled for 3pm on Wednesday. Department of 
Corrections spokeswoman Terri Watkins said the time was moved from 6pm so the 
process did not disrupt a shift change and meal time at the facility, and so 
that media and execution witnesses would be off the prison grounds before dark.

(source: The Guardian)

***************

Court upholds death penalty in deadly 2003 Oklahoma crime spree


The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals split 2-1 Tuesday to uphold the Oklahoma 
death sentence of Scott Eizember, who went on a deadly crime spree in 2003.

One judge on a 3-judge panel said the death sentence should be overturned 
because a juror should not have been allowed on the jury.

Eizember was sentenced to be executed for the bludgeoning death of A.J. 
Cantrell, 76, and to 150 years in prison in the shotgun slaying of Patsy 
Cantrell, 70, at their Depew home.

"Scott Eizember left a Tulsa jail intent on settling a score," Judge Neil 
Gorsuch of the Denver-based appeals court wrote in a 34-page decision. "He was 
upset with his ex-girlfriend, Kathy Biggs, because she had tipped off 
authorities about his violation of a protective order. "

Eizember had broken into the Cantrells' home to watch and wait for his 
ex-girlfriend to return to her mother's house across the street.

Eizember also was convicted of shooting with intent to kill against Tyler 
Montgomery, the 16-year-old son of Biggs, and assault with a dangerous weapon 
against Karla Wright, Biggs' mother.

Chief Judge Mary Beck Briscoe, in a 30-page dissenting opinion, wrote that one 
juror's views in favor of the death penalty raise doubts about her ability to 
be fair and impartial. The views could have indicated that the juror might not 
have met her obligation to also consider a sentence of life in prison without 
parole, Briscoe wrote.

The two judges in the majority concluded that the juror's views about the death 
penalty, which she stated during jury selection, were inconclusive about her 
ability to be fair. The 2 judges wrote that, in any event, it was not 
unreasonable for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to have concluded that 
the juror did not need to be excused.

Tuesday's decision involved a review of the 2007 state appeals court decision.

The Oklahoma appeals court split 3-2 to uphold Eizember's death sentence. The 
dissenting judges concluded that the sentence "was tainted when biased jurors 
who sat on his jury should have been excused."

The federal appellate judges said they based their decision, in part, on the 
fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that trial judges are allowed 
considerable discretion to decide whether a potential juror should be excluded.

(source: The Oklahoman)

***************

Execution day arrives: Debate continues over death penalty and Richard 
Glossip's case ---- Fallin denies inmate's latest request for delay


More than 18 years have passed since Richard Glossip was arrested in connection 
with the beating death of his boss at an Oklahoma City motel. On Tuesday, about 
24 hours before his scheduled execution for the death of Barry Van Treese, 
Glossip lost one of his final chances to avoid Oklahoma's death chamber.

Gov. Mary Fallin rejected Glossip's request for a 60-day stay of execution, 
increasing the likelihood that Glossip, 52, will be executed at 3 p.m. 
Wednesday at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Glossip's attorneys 
began filing another round of appeals late Tuesday, the 1st an application for 
post-conviction review with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. They also 
were expected to file a petition for review with the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of 
Appeals in Denver by Wednesday morning.

The appeals are part of the final efforts from a man whose case has triggered 
international attention as death-penalty opponents try to have his life spared. 
Many of Glossip's supporters question how the state can put Glossip to death 
while the person who confessed to the actual slaying was not condemned.

Death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean has made public appearances on 
Glossip's behalf and insists he is innocent. Two juries have disagreed.

This week, Glossip's attorneys released 2 affidavits with statements that 
appear to cast doubt on the credibility of Justin Sneed, who admits to killing 
Van Treese but says he was ordered to do so by Glossip.

Fallin's office says its review of the case indicates that jurors made the 
right decision.

"The deeper our review goes, the more convinced we become of Richard Glossip's 
guilt," said Alex Weintz, Fallin's spokesman. "His lawyers simply haven't 
presented any information that would make anyone in my office believe that the 
12 jurors who convicted him got it wrong."

One juror's account of Glossip's trial

Glossip's supporters have decried every aspect of his case, from the way 
Glossip's earlier defense teams represented their client to the use of capital 
punishment.

A juror from Glossip's 1998 trial wrote a letter to KOKH-TV, Oklahoma City's 
Fox affiliate, stating the juror would reconsider the verdict in light of 
information that hadn't been presented at the time.

But Juror No. 1 in Glossip's 2004 trial, identified as David Piscitello, told 
the Tulsa World he is tired of the publicity and judgment from those who were 
not in the courtroom when either trial took place.

"I was in there for 30 days," Piscitello said in a phone interview. "A month of 
my life, 8 hours a day was dedicated towards (the trial) and people are coming 
in and trying to undermine (the verdict) ... It just irritates me."

Piscitello wrote a letter to Fallin's office saying he supports her decision to 
go forward with Glossip's execution, and he told the World that the evidence 
shared by Glossip's attorneys during a press conference Monday did not change 
his confidence in the jury's verdict.

At first, he said, he was torn between a life-without-parole decision and the 
death penalty. But, he said he based his decision on evidence presented at 
trial that Glossip was manipulative and controlling.

"If it wasn't for (Glossip), this kid (Sneed) never would have killed Barry Van 
Treese," he said. "He was the mastermind. So we decided to hold him to a higher 
level of accountability."

As Juror No. 1, Piscitello was the closest to the stand and said he found Sneed 
and others who testified to be believable witnesses.

"If he wasn't, he missed his calling because he would have been an Academy 
Award winner as an actor," he said.

Glossip did not take the stand, although interrogation tapes showing him with 
police were played in court.

"You could see him trying to work the detective," Piscitello said. "He came 
across in the interrogation tapes like a manipulator ... They asked the 
detective what he thought and ... He said the same thing, 'He's trying to 
bull---- me. He's a bull----ter.'"

Piscitello said he hasn't discussed the case at length since finishing the 
trial but was compelled to do so after talking to an investigator with 
Glossip's legal team who visited his home within the past week.

"The worst thing you can do to a juror is come up and say 'You helped execute 
an innocent man,'" he said. "From what we were presented at the trial that I 
was at and the group I was with, I can meet my maker with a clear conscience. I 
thought we delivered the right verdict."

The state's case against Glossip

Van Treese was asleep inside Room 102 at his motel late Jan. 6, where he 
typically stayed when making overnight visits. He had stopped by to issue 
checks on payday and get updated on his business' operations.

Prosecutors claimed Glossip, the motel's manager, feared being fired because of 
the motel's poor condition and Van Treese's discovery that thousands of dollars 
were missing from the hotel's books. Sneed, a maintenance worker who was paid 
with room and board, did "pretty much whatever Rich asked him to do," according 
to trial testimony from their co-worker Billye Hooper.

Prosecutors argued that Sneed was only 19 and had an 8th-grade education, 
meaning his limited intelligence and life circumstances made him fully 
dependent on Glossip. Court records also claimed Sneed believed he would be 
fired along with Glossip and forced to leave the complex.

Prosecutors and police said Sneed - who they claim was promised up to $10,000 - 
entered Room 102 with a master key and beat Van Treese to death with a baseball 
bat. He then knocked on Glossip's door early Jan. 7 and told him what he had 
done.

Later, according to court records, Glossip helped Sneed cover the room's window 
with Plexiglas, since it was broken during Sneed's struggle with Van Treese.

Prosecutors alleged the pair went to Van Treese's car after the killing and 
split about $4,000 they found under a seat. Police found most of that money 
among the pair's possessions when they were arrested.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals later called it "the most compelling 
corroborative evidence" for the state's case, because no evidence indicated 
Sneed knew Van Treese kept large amounts of cash related to his business 
dealings in his car before Glossip told him.

Glossip was found guilty of 1st-degree murder for remuneration and sentenced to 
die in 1998. He received the same conviction six years later after his first 
trial verdict was overturned on appeal.

In Glossip's 2nd trial, Hooper, Sneed's co-worker, told the jury she did not 
believe Sneed would have killed Van Treese without being told to do so.

Sneed's account has remained consistent since Glossip's 1st trial. Now 37 and 
serving life without parole in Lexington's Joseph Harp Correctional Center, he 
still maintains Glossip ordered the killing.

"For one, he didn't know the man hardly at all," Hooper was recorded as saying. 
"... I wouldn't see, in my opinion, why he would have a reason to do such a 
violent act to someone that he hardly knew."

Glossip told Hooper the window of Room 102 had been broken after a drunken 
fight, and Sneed told authorities the two fabricated that story to throw 
suspicion off them. Oklahoma City police found Van Treese's body 17 hours after 
he died.

Initially, Sneed was nowhere to be found.

"Rich's reaction to Justin, the fact that he left the property when Barry was 
there, things like that, just sort of started tying together," Hooper said of 
her belief in Glossip's involvement. "Because as a rule, he never would have 
done any of those things ... with Barry there."

Appeal records indicate Glossip began selling his possessions immediately after 
Van Treese's death because "he was going to be moving on" and after being 
detained he admitted actively hiding Van Treese's body not to protect Sneed, 
but because he felt like he "was involved in it."

Glossip has since filed multiple appeals, including one to the U.S. Supreme 
Court that challenged the drugs Oklahoma uses for lethal injection. His 
execution date was set following the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Glossip v. 
Gross, which ruled the use of the drug midazolam in executions was 
constitutional.

Glossip's supporters question strength of case

Glossip's attorneys and other supporters have been outspoken about their 
objections to his death sentence, saying he was convicted based on 
circumstantial evidence supported by the word of Sneed, who they say has motive 
to stay silent for fear of being sentenced to death himself.

No direct evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA, exists that ties Glossip to 
Room 102 the night Van Treese died, and they argue killing Van Treese for his 
money was illogical. They additionally claim police interrogated Sneed in a way 
that led him to name Glossip as a suspect.

Defense attorneys in both trials suggested Sneed acted alone. Glossip's new 
attorney, Don Knight, released an affidavit from a man who said he knew 
Glossip's brother Bobby, who was estranged from Richard Glossip. The man said 
he knew Bobby Glossip because they sold methamphetamine together out of Room 
102 to people, including Sneed.

The teenaged Sneed, according to the affidavit, had an addiction that was the 
catalyst for him reportedly stealing items from motel rooms and cars parked in 
the motel parking lot, and the new attorneys have implied Van Treese was killed 
because of Sneed's drug habit.

Another affidavit, signed by a former inmate who was housed at the same prison 
as Sneed, alleged he overheard Sneed brag about setting Glossip up to take the 
harsher sentence in Van Treese's death.

Glossip's website includes a letter that Prejean and others claim was written 
by Sneed's daughter, O'Ryan Justine Sneed, which states her father has talked 
to her about recanting his testimony and expresses belief in Glossip's 
innocence.

O'Ryan Sneed has not publicly confirmed writing the unsigned letter and she has 
not spoken to media about the case. It was intended to be reviewed by the 
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board during Glossip's October clemency hearing, but 
was not received in time to be included in the file.

On Aug. 31, Prejean and Sarandon appeared on a broadcast of the Dr. Phil show, 
which was wholly devoted to discussion of his case.

Since the show aired, billionaire Richard Branson has written a letter calling 
for Fallin to stay Glossip's execution. Barry Scheck, co-director of the 
Innocence Project, also joined Coburn, former U.S. Attorney John Raley Jr. and 
former University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer in urging Fallin to 
prevent what they said would be a mistake.

When contacted by the World, Coburn declined additional comment, but Scheck 
said "skepticism is in order" when a state sentences someone to death and that 
enough questions have been raised about Glossip's guilt to warrant a stay.

"One of the reasons we reached out to the senator is that it's our experience 
there is a coalition between conservatives and liberals on criminal justice 
reform," Scheck said. "One of the things that conservatives recognize is that 
the death penalty, particularly on the issue of innocents, is a serious 
problem."

Mark Henricksen, one of Glossip's attorneys, said the legal team is looking 
into a new report that evidence was destroyed during Glossip's first appeal. 
They're also trying to determine if surveillance footage from a nearby 
establishment may show Sneed's involvement in the crime.

The delay in presenting the new information to the court, he said, was partly 
due to getting witness statements under oath in affidavit form, adding that 
attorneys haven't known about most of the recent developments for more than a 
few weeks.

Governor sees no reason to cast doubt on verdict

Fallin released a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying the attorneys have 
rejected requests from public officials to examine the new information.

"After reviewing it with my legal team, we have determined the vast majority of 
the limited content they have presented is not new; furthermore, we find none 
of the material to be credible evidence of Richard Glossip's innocence," she 
said. "After carefully reviewing the facts of this case multiple times, I see 
no reason to cast doubt on the guilty verdict reached by the jury or to delay 
Glossip's sentence of death."

Van Treese's family has previously provided statements to the World discussing 
their belief in Glossip's guilt and said his execution would mean justice has 
been served.

"I hope the execution brings a sense of closure and peace to the Van Treese 
family, who has suffered greatly because of Glossip???s crimes," Fallin said.

(source: Tulsa World)

**********

As Oklahoma nears execution, Breyer explains concerns----Richard Glossip to be 
executed using controversial drug Midazolam


If Oklahoma puts Richard Glossip to death Wednesday, it will be the 1st time 
the controversial execution drug Midazolam has been used since a bitterly 
divided Supreme Court allowed its use in June over the objections of 2 justices 
who said the entire system of capital punishment should be re-examined.

Without addressing the Glossip case in particular, Supreme Court Justice 
Stephen Breyer laid out his general concerns about the death penalty in a new 
interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Glossip's lawyers, meanwhile, are making frantic last minute claims of 
innocence, pointing to what they say is new evidence that would exonerate him. 
The lawyers, while unable to argue against Midazolam, are likely to file a 
flurry of other claims before Wednesday's deadline.

The attorneys have asked Gov. Mary Fallon for a 60-day reprieve based on the 
new evidence of innocence they say they discovered in the past two weeks. 
Supporters of Glossip include death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean and 
actress Susan Sarandon.

"Although the use of Midazolam in this case has already been decided, the case 
raises very thorny questions about whether Oklahoma will be executing a 
potentially innocent man with a potentially tortuous drug," said Robert Dunham 
of the Death Penalty Information Center. Dunham says that since the ruling 
other executions have occurred but Midazolam was not a part of the protocol.

Midazolam, is used in a handful of states. It is meant to cause unconsciousness 
but its critics say that it fails to produce a deep coma-like unconsciousness 
necessary to prevent a prisoner from feeling the painful effects of the other 
two drugs in the protocol.

The case is also notable for the dissent that Justice Stephen Breyer issued on 
the last day of the Court's term. Joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Breyer 
said, for the 1st time, that he thought it was time for the Court to revisit 
the constitutionality of the death penalty. Although, in the past, some 
justices have said the death penalty is unconstitutional, no current sitting 
justice has said so.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Breyer reiterated his concerns about the 
punishment's reliability, and his belief that it is being arbitrarily imposed. 
"I think, it's time to revisit the issue," he said.

"What I wrote in the opinion - first to suggest sometimes its the wrong person. 
Second, if you look at who is actually executed it seems pretty arbitrary," 
said Breyer. "Third, if you look at the average length of time it takes from 
the time a person is sentenced to death to the time of execution - 18 years 
now."

"18 years before there is an execution," he repeated. "And if you look at the 
number of executions, it's fallen dramatically and they're almost all in a 
handful of counties."

The death penalty, said Breyer, has changed since the decision that made it 
legal again.

"This is not what people expected when they wrote the cases upholding the death 
penalty more than 40 years ago," he said.

Glossip was convicted for the 1977 murder of Barry Van Treese. Last June 
Attorney General Scott Pruitt praised the Supreme Court's decision that went 
against Glossip and 2 other plaintiffs.

"The families in these 3 cases have waited a combined 48 years for justice." he 
said.

(source: myarklamiss.com)

***************

A Man Who's Probably Innocent Will Die Today, And Lawyers Can't Save Him


18 years after the murder of motel owner Barry Van Treese, there is no concrete 
evidence to suggest Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip was involved in 
the crime. According to witnesses, the actual killer, Justin Sneed, has 
repeatedly bragged about setting his former boss up by pinning him as the 
mastermind behind Treese's murder. Over time, new evidence has chipped away at 
the case against Glossip.

Still, after a long battle to prove his innocence and have his sentence 
overturned, Glossip will be executed by lethal injection Wednesday afternoon. 
His looming execution highlights how difficult it is to have a conviction 
reversed - and for a death row inmate to walk free.

"It's very difficult to exonerate anyone who's been wrongly convicted because 
the standard is much higher to reverse a conviction than to convict in the 
first place," Valena Beety, deputy director of the Clinical Law Program at West 
Virginia University and chair of the West Virginia Innocence Project, told 
ThinkProgress. "To convict someone, the prosecutor has to show that a defendant 
is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But once that conviction is in place, 
you're trying to reverse that with even more substantial evidence."

Glossip was convicted in 1998 for the murder, which took place at the motel 
where he and Sneed worked. Without physical evidence, prosecutors argued that 
Glossip enlisted Sneed to kill their boss, because he was about to be 
terminated for embezzling money. Sneed's DNA was found all over the crime 
scene, authorities had a taped confession from him, and there was a recording 
of the killer striking a bargain with a detective to blame Glossip in order to 
reduce his sentence. But the strongest evidence in Glossip's favor was not 
presented in court. Glossip lost the legal battle and was sentenced to death.

Years later, there was a ray of hope for him, when the Oklahoma Criminal Court 
of Appeals overturned the conviction based on the grossly inadequate 
representation that Glossip received. He was granted a new trial in 2004, but 
once again, the defense attorneys did not introduce the interrogation tape and, 
similar to his first attorney, conducted a weak cross-examination. He was 
convicted again in 2004.

"[To] have a judge say, 'you're right, there's not enough evidence to convict 
you,' to have the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals say, 'that's true, there's 
not enough evidence to convict this man' [and] to reverse the conviction, is 
huge," Beety said. "So [Glossip] already had his conviction reversed once, and 
then he was brought back to trial and convicted again. That alone makes me 
suspect of the legitimacy and weight of the conviction."

People who are sentenced to death are technically guaranteed post-conviction 
representation. But their defense often falls short. Defense lawyers can't 
always dedicate time and resources to build the strongest case. In many 
instances, the inmates wind up with defense lawyers who worked on the 1st 
trial, meaning they could end up with the same defense attorney that provided 
inadequate representation - like Glossip. And when appealing their decision, 
defendants are not allowed to introduce new evidence.

"We think of death penalty cases or murder conviction life sentences as high 
profile cases, but these are state cases. You really only have local 
prosecutors and local public defenders working on the vast majority of them," 
Beety said.

Most defendants can't afford to hire an attorney, and have to rely on public 
defenders who do not have the capacity to launch a thorough investigation. Even 
if they are granted a retrial, the defendant is out of luck unless their 
attorneys can produce new evidence.

"Public defenders work very hard but they're often overworked. There's not 
necessarily the level of expertise and dedication that you'd hope for in such a 
serious case," Beety explained. "For example, if you had a civil case, you'd 
have attorneys who have been hired from law firms to do in-depth background 
work on it. And for criminal defense attorneys, there's just not that time and 
you're not being paid that as a public defender."

But recently, a heightened awareness of wrongful convictions and closer 
scrutiny of how those convictions came about is resulting in more exonerations 
than ever. In 2014, there were 125, more than any other year on record. 6 of 
the exonerees were death row inmates. More than 30 % of the crimes that were 
cleared were drug crimes, and non-homicide non-sex crimes accounted for 50 %.

Beety attributed the momentum to scientific discovery and public interest. 
People are increasingly familiar with the flaws in "snitch" testimonies and 
witness identification. How witnesses are interviewed can determine what they 
will say, how they remember events, and how truthful they will be. Defendants' 
demographics, including their age, race and mental health status, also 
influence what they say or do in front of police.

Still, none of this matters for Glossip, whose case has been botched from the 
beginning.

A growing and far-reaching coalition of support - comprising celebrities, 
entrepreneurs, and legal professionals - has fought tooth and nail for an 
additional stay and re-trial. But Gov. Mary Fallin (R) remains unmoved, 
maintaining the 2 convictions are enough to carry out the execution. In July, 
soon after the Supreme Court ruled that the state's lethal injection cocktail 
does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, Oklahoma scheduled three 
executions, including Glossip's, to be carried out this year. A last minute 
stay is unlikely.

(source: thinkprogress.org)