The Oklahoma City law firm that conducted a pro bono independent investigation into the case of Richard Glossip, the second in line of the 25 men Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor is seeking to execute beginning in August, released its findings earlier this month. Its statement was unequivocal.
“Considering the facts we uncovered, and that there exists no physical forensic evidence or credible corroborating testimony linking Glossip to the crime, our conclusion is that no reasonable juror hearing the complete record would have convicted Richard Glossip of first-degree murder.”
Glossip has been on death row since 1997, convicted of engineering the murder of Barry Van Treese, the owner of a motel where Glossip worked. The actual killer, Justin Sneed, serving a life without parole sentence, implicated Glossip as the crime’s mastermind. Glossip has always maintained his innocence, and in February, an ad hoc committee of state legislators asked the law firm, Reed Smith, to conduct an investigation. The result is a 343-page report concluding that “Glossip’s 2004 trial cannot be relied on to support a murder-for-hire-conviction. Nor can it provide a basis for the government to take the life of Richard E. Glossip.”
The report was all Republican state representative Kevin McDugle, a death penalty supporter, needed to hear. He vowed that if the state goes ahead with its plans to execute Glossip, “I will fight in this state to abolish the death penalty simply because the process is not pure,” CNN reports.
Tremane Wood, sentenced to death in 2001, is also on the state’s list of 25 execution requests. UPI reports that he filed an appeal this month, saying his lawyer was ineffective because of his cocaine addiction.
Wood’s brother, Zjaiton “Jake” Wood, confessed to the killing of Ronnie Wipf during a botched robbery and was sentenced to life in prison, but Tremane Wood, who was present, was sentenced to death. His current lawyer said “Jake” Wood avoided a death sentence because he was represented by three experienced public defenders, while Tremane was represented by “a contract lawyer who received a meager flat fee” to represent him, according to UPI. The lawyer, Johnny Albert, provided an affidavit admitting to not being adequately prepared for Tremane Wood’s case.
