Supreme Court appears divided on fate of death row inmate Richard Glossip after nine halted executions

The Supreme Court revisited the bizarre Oklahoma death penalty case of Richard Glossip Wednesday, but gave little indication of how they would rule on a matter in which the Sooner State’s attorney general and the defendant are on the same side.All three liberals on the bench as well as conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared sympathetic toward Glossip, 61, during oral arguments, while conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas seemed skeptical and the other two justices who will decide the case did little to tip their hand.Glossip was convicted in 1998 of ordering the murder of his boss, Barry Van Treese.

The verdict was thrown out by Oklahoma’s Court of Criminal Appeals in 2001, only to be reaffirmed in 2004 following a second trial.Despite new evidence being uncovered since, the Court of Criminal Appeals has steadfastly rejected Glossip’s pleas for a new trial.After Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond took office in 2023, he reviewed the state’s death row cases, and concluded that Glossip did not receive a fair trial either of the first two times he came before a jury.“Attorney General Drummond did not confess error here lightly,” ex-US solicitor general Paul Clement told the high court.

“That confession demanded respectful consideration … instead the [lower] court invoked procedural bars and essentially treated the confession of error as unfounded.”Because neither side wanted to defend the lower court ruling, the Supreme Court tapped Christopher Michel, a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts, to argue the other side.“This court should … dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction, leaving petitioner [Glossip] free to pursue state law clemency or other available relief,” Michel argued before being grilled by the liberal justices.All parties agree that motel maintenance man Justin Sneed beat Van Treese, the owner, to death with a baseball bat on Jan.7, 1997.

At issue is whether Glossip paid Sneed $1...