Richard Glossip (case)
Richard Glossip has been on Oklahoma's death row since 1997 for the murder of Barry Van Treese. Even the state's attorney general has questioned his conviction. The Supreme Court heard his case in 2024.
Richard Glossip was convicted of the 1997 murder of his boss Barry Van Treese at the Best Budget Inn in Oklahoma City. The actual killer, Justin Sneed, received life in prison in exchange for testifying that Glossip hired him.
Glossip has maintained his innocence for over 25 years. No physical evidence links him to the crime—the entire case rests on Sneed's testimony.
In an extraordinary move, Oklahoma's own attorney general concluded that the conviction was unreliable, citing destroyed evidence and Sneed's undisclosed psychiatric history.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case in 2024, marking a rare instance where a state's attorney general argued alongside a death row inmate that the conviction should be overturned.
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