Oklahoma Drops Murder Charge Against Richard Glossip, Avoiding Third Trial
Glossip agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge to end his 30-year legal saga. He will be sentenced in December. The post Oklahoma Drops Murder Charge Against Richard Glossip, Avoiding Third Trial appeared first on The Intercept .
Oklahoma has dropped the murder charge against Richard Glossip, avoiding a third trial for the 1997 killing of his boss. Glossip, 63, had always maintained his innocence and was previously convicted and sentenced to death for the crime. The case involved a 19-year-old maintenance man named Justin Sneed, who admitted to killing Van Treese but claimed Glossip incited him to do so.
Sneed, serving a life sentence, was Glossip's star witness against him. Judge Natalie Mai accepted Glossip's plea of accessory after the fact, dismissing the murder charge. With Van Treese's family present, Glossip confirmed his plea was voluntary. Under Oklahoma law at the time, the maximum punishment for accessory after the fact was 45 years.
Considering his time on death row and good behavior credits, Glossip would have been eligible for release in 2016. However, his attorneys did not reach an agreement on a proposed sentence. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who previously expressed concerns about the case, stated that his office would seek additional prison time. It is now up to Judge Mai to decide Glossip's sentence.
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