OKLAHOMA CITY — Just weeks after the state completed its first execution for 2023, Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced he has asked for an independent investigation of Richard Glossip, the inmate who was set to be executed next by the state.
In addition, Drummond also asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to revise the state’s execution schedule, saying the current pace of executions was “unsustainable in the long run and was unduly burdening the Department of Corrections and its personnel.”
The court affirmed Drummond’s request, rescheduling executions with at least 60 days between each one.
Drummond made both announcements in media statements.
He said he had asked an independent prosecutor to “conduct a comprehensive review of Richard Glossip’s murder conviction and death sentence.”
“As my office will represent the State at the clemency hearing, it is my responsibility to ensure that we are appropriately responding to all evidence that has been presented through Mr. Glossip’s conviction and incarceration,” Drummond’s statement said. “Circumstances surrounding this case necessitate a thorough review. While I am confident in our judicial system, that does not allow me to ignore evidence. This review helps ensure that justice is served, both to the Van Treese family and the accused.”
Drummond said Rex Duncan, the former district attorney of Osage County, would review the case, including the initial police investigation, trials, sentencing and Glossip’s appeals.
Glossip was sentenced to death for the 1997 murder for hire of his boss, Barry Van Treese.
The review comes about a year after Reed Smith, a Houston law firm, conducted a review of the Glossip case on behalf of five members of the Oklahoma Legislature. The group asked the law firm to review the case after Glossip’s attorney said his team had discovered new evidence.
Then-Attorney General John O’Connor downplayed the investigation, saying, “It was time for justice be to be served for Mr. Van Treese’s family and the people of Oklahoma.”
“The defense claimed today that there is no mechanism to have a claim of actual innocence heard by the courts… if Glossip’s defense has new evidence, they need to be transparent and provide that to the Court of Criminal Appeals for determination of actual innocence, as that is the appropriate mechanism to have the claim heard.”
Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, praised Drummond’s action.
“The new evidence we have uncovered since 2015 shows conclusively, as the first independent investigation by Reed Smith found, that no reasonable juror who viewed all the evidence would find Mr. Glossip guilty of murder for hire,” Knight said in a media statement. “We are confident that this new investigation will reach the same conclusion.”
Drummond said he spoke with members of the Van Treese family before asking for the review.
“I always will remain focused on the families of victims, who have suffered unimaginable loss and await justice for their loved ones,” he said.