World

US Supreme Court hears appeal by Oklahoma death row inmate Glossip

2024.10.09 11:13

By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip’s bid to throw out his conviction for a 1997 murder-for-hire based on his claim that prosecutors wrongly withheld evidence that could help his defense.

Glossip, now 61, is asking the justices to grant him a new trial after an Oklahoma court upheld his conviction despite potentially exculpatory evidence being recently uncovered.

The arguments are ongoing.

Glossip was convicted of commissioning the murder of Barry Van Treese, owner of the Best Budget Inn motel in Oklahoma City where Glossip was a manager. All parties agree Van Treese was beaten to death with a baseball bat by maintenance worker Justin Sneed. Sneed confessed to the murder but avoided capital punishment by accepting a plea deal that involved testifying that Glossip paid him $10,000 to do it.

Securing a murder conviction against Glossip hinged on the testimony of Sneed, who was a methamphetamine addict, and the reliability of his account. Glossip admitted to helping Sneed cover up the murder after it occurred, but denied knowing that Sneed planned to kill Van Treese or encouraging him to do so.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman, representing Glossip, told the justices that Glossip was “convicted on the word of one man,” referring to Sneed, and that his conviction violated the U.S. Constitution’s right to due process.

“He (Sneed) lied to the jury about his history of psychiatric treatment, including the fact that a prison psychiatrist prescribed lithium to treat his previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder,” Waxman said.

“The prosecution suppressed that evidence and then failed to correct Mr. Sneed’s perjured denial,” Waxman added.

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas questioned Waxman on why he had not interviewed two prosecutors at the center of the case.

“Not only because their reputations are being impugned but (because) they are central to this case, it would seem that an interview of these two prosecutors would be central,” Thomas told Waxman.

Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general, became an unlikely ally of Glossip after he concluded that prosecutors hid evidence that might have led to an acquittal. Although Drummond said he believes Glossip’s role in covering up Van Treese’s murder makes him at least an “accessory after the fact,” justifying a long prison sentence, Glossip’s murder conviction was too flawed for him to defend.

Drummond last year commissioned an independent investigation and disclosed information – including a prosecutor’s hand-written notes from a meeting with Sneed – that had been withheld from Glossip’s lawyers.

The new information cast doubt on Sneed’s credibility, Glossip’s lawyers said. They contend they were kept in the dark about Sneed receiving psychiatric treatment for bipolar disorder immediately after his arrest, and that prosecutors failed to correct a false statement Sneed made about his prescription for the medication lithium. 

Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general, is representing the Oklahoma attorney general’s office in the case.

Because Oklahoma’s attorney general is supporting Glossip’s appeal, the Supreme Court had to take the rare step of tapping an outside lawyer – private attorney Christopher Michel – to argue that Glossip’s conviction should be upheld.

Michel in his Supreme Court brief sought to rebut the claim by Glossip’s lawyers that the newly disclosed information had undermined Sneed’s credibility or the prosecution’s handling of the case. Michel also argued that the justices should defer to the Oklahoma court’s ruling to uphold Glossip’s conviction based on that state’s law that places limits on post-conviction legal efforts.

The victim’s family, represented by former federal judge Paul Cassell, filed a brief with the Supreme Court saying, “The truth here is that no evidence was suppressed and Glossip commissioned the murder of Barry Van Treese.”

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Supreme Court is pictured in Washington, U.S., October 8, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo

The Supreme Court last year halted Glossip’s scheduled execution while his appeal was pending. The justices are expected to issue their ruling by the end of June.

Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate on Wednesday in considering Glossip’s appeal, apparently because he dealt with the case at an earlier stage while serving on a lower court.



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