Why Oklahoma has delayed Richard Glossip’s execution seven times

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Grant told Oklahoma officials that federal law “authorizes the Bureau of Prisons to transfer a prisoner who is wanted by a State authority to that State authority’s custody if it is appropriate, suitable, and in the public’s best interest,” and that he had “denied the request for transfer, as it is not in the public’s best interest.” open image in gallery Richard Glossip The US government declared a moratorium on federal executions last year. Glossip and his attorneys petitioned the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for a hearing on new evidence that the state fed a key witness testimony, stopped the witness from later recanting, withheld exculpatory evidence from the defence, relied on a witness proven to be unreliable, and went against department policy in capital cases and destroyed valuable financial records that could’ve cleared Glossip’s name. One detective went so far as to tell the 19-year-old, “The first one that comes forward is the one that’s gonna be helping himself.” Prosecutors eventually settled on a theory was Glossip, who had no significant criminal history, and who regularly handled thousands of dollars in cash on behalf of the owner Van Treese, decided to rob and then murder his employer, splitting the proceeds with Sneed. A 2001 letter, before Glossip’s second trial, captured Sneed describing how the process might give him the chance to “ponder the right thing to do.” In 2003, he wrote to his lawyer that, “Parts of me are curious that if I chose to do this again, do I have the choice of re-canting my testimony at any time during my life, or anything like that.” More recently, investigators found a 2007 message from Sneed, where he admitted, “There are a lot of things right now that are eating at me… Some things I need to clean up.” “Our conclusion is that no reasonable juror, hearing the complete record, and the uncovered facts.