Oklahoma governor grants inmate stay of execution

The reprieve pushes back inmate Richard Glossip’s scheduled execution date to February 2023 to give an appeals court more time to weigh his claim of innocence. Glossip asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for a new evidentiary hearing after an independent investigation by Houston law firm Reed Smith raised questions about lost or destroyed evidence in his case. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is currently locked in a tight reelection contest against Democratic challenger Joy Hofmeister.

What is Glossip in prison for? Richard Glossip received the death penalty for the 1997 murder-for-hire killing of his boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese. Prosecutors said Glossip paid the hotel maintenance man, Justin Sneed, to kill Van Treese. Sneed received a life sentence and served as a key witness in two separate trials in which Glossip was convicted.

Dig deeper: Read Maryrose Delahunty’s report in the WORLD archives about facial recognition software, and how it could be used to solve cases—possibly at the expense of privacy.