An Oklahoma appeals court has granted death row prisoner Richard Glossip a two-week reprieve, just hours before he was due to be put to death. Glossip’s lawyers had argued that newly unearthed evidence cast doubt on his murder conviction. As NBC reports, his supporters had urged Oklahoma’s Governor to grant a stay of execution.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin was unswayed, but the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued an emergency stay of execution that will remain in effect until Sept. 30.
In a brief order, the judges said they wanted time to give “fair consideration” to all the materials Glossip’s defense submitted. Continue reading…
On Tuesday Oklahoma City’s Fox News station, revealed that evidence in Glossip’s case had been destroyed while he was still seeking to appeal his case.
Some of the physical evidence from the murder still exists, but acting on questions from Fox 25, the Oklahoma City Police Department reviewed the property room and discovered an entire box from the case is missing.
That box of evidence was destroyed in 1999. According to a police report the order for destruction came on October 25, 1999, just five days after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Glossip’s initial trial verdict back to Oklahoma County District Court for a ‘fact finding’ hearing on his claims of prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. Continue reading…
Glossip’s execution has been rescheduled for September 30th.
