'Dr. Phil' speaks at Oklahoma City rally to release Richard Glossip from death row

At the state Capitol on Tuesday, Phil McGraw, host of the highly popular syndicated daytime show, "Dr. Phil," spoke at a rally calling for the retrial of high-profile death row inmate Richard Glossip. 

“We are here today to make sure Richard Glossip at least gets a fair trial,” McGraw said on the steps of the Capitol. “I think that he should be set free, personally.”

About 100 people showed up to support Glossip and hear impassioned speeches from McGraw, Glossip’s wife and defense team, and state legislators who have called for Glossip to be removed from death row.

The rally came just days after the U.S. Supreme Court halted Glossip’s execution after Oklahoma Attorney Gentner Drummond told the high court Glossip didn't receive a fair trial.

More: Death row inmate Richard Glossip gets execution stay from US Supreme Court

Glossip, 60, was set to be executed May 18 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the 1997 murder-for-hire plot of his boss, Barry Alan Van Treese.

Van Treese, 54, was found beaten to death in Room 102 of his motel, the Best Budget Inn, on Jan. 7, 1997. Van Treese was 54 and lived in Lawton.

Glossip was the motel manager. His execution will be put on hold while the Supreme Court reviews the case.

McGraw, who was born in the Sooner State, called the case “unsettling,” and said it “really hit home” because it involves an Oklahoman.

“If you do the crime, you should do the time,” McGraw said. “But if you’re doing time and didn’t commit the crime, that’s a crime.”

A look at the Richard Glossip case, and what happens with appeal to US Supreme Court

After its May 5 decision to issue a stay, the Supreme Court is mulling whether to review the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals' recent rulings against Glossip.

The stay shall terminate automatically if the high court doesn't intervene.

The Court of Criminal Appeals then would have to pick a new date, likely in 2024.

The stay also will end if justices do intervene and then rule against him.

Drummond told justices that Glossip was convicted on the false testimony of key witness and confessed killer Justin Sneed. At his 2004 retrial, Sneed gave false testimony to the jury regarding his psychiatric treatment, Drummond told the court.

Earlier coverage: Oklahoma AG files Supreme Court petition supporting stay of execution for Richard Glossip

Sneed, a motel maintenance man, confessed to killing Van Treese with a baseball bat. He said Glossip pressured him into doing it and offered him $10,000 as payment. He testified against Glossip at two trials.

Glossip's attorneys claim Sneed actually killed the motel owner during a botched robbery for drug money. They claim he incriminated Glossip to avoid getting the death penalty himself.

The attorneys claim Sneed was a meth addict who admitted in jail and later in prison he framed Glossip, and talked about recanting his testimony.

Sneed testified at the retrial that he was given lithium "for some reason" after at first getting Sudafed for a cold. "I don't know why," he told jurors. "I never seen no psychiatrist or anything."

Glossip's attorneys told the appeals court they had discovered after reviewing the prosecutors' notes that a jail psychiatrist had diagnosed Sneed with bipolar disorder. Glossip and his supporters contend his defense attorneys could have used this crucial information at the retrial.

“That meant that he had some kind of mental disorder that the defense never knew anything about,” Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow, said at Tuesday’s rally. “The defense had no idea what was going on.”

“If they kill Richard Glossip, I’ll be the first one to stand up and run a bill that abolishes this thing,” he said.

The appeals court on April 20 refused to grant Glossip a stay and threw out his latest challenge to his conviction.

The court found that the question of Sneed being bipolar was "ascertainable" long ago because the information came out in 1997 during a competency examination.

The court also found it would not have made a difference in the outcome had his lithium use been further developed at the retrial.

“His testimony was not clearly false," Judge David Lewis wrote. "Sneed was more than likely in denial of his mental health disorders, but counsel did not inquire further."

The defense attorney likely did not question Sneed further about it "due to the danger of showing that he was mentally vulnerable to Glossip's manipulation and control," Lewis wrote.

On April 26, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board deadlocked with a 2-2 vote, meaning Glossip's clemency won't be recommended to Gov. Kevin Stitt.

The board unanimously denied Glossip's past clemency request in 2014.

The appeals court rejected two previous challenges to his conviction in November.

Still, Glossip’s supporters are calling for another trial.

“We’ve gotta make sure we hold our courts accountable,” McDugle said.

Richard Glossip supporters, former district attorney spar over case

Speakers on Tuesday, including Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, accused former Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater of tampering with case evidence when he came into office after Glossip’s trials.

Humphrey said “somebody needs to be coming after” Prater, and he “is the guy” who is going to try.

“I wanna especially talk to you, Mr. Prater, because how can you stand when we have 100% evidence that your office destroyed key evidence?” Humphrey said. “What kind of person does that?”

Reached by phone Tuesday, Prater, who is retired, said Humphrey’s allegations are “untruthful and absurd” and “absolutely false.”

Glossip’s defense attorney, Don Knight, claimed Tuesday that Prater has refused for years to meet with him about the case. Knight said he started looking into the case about 2015.

Prater told The Oklahoman that early in Knight’s handling of the Glossip case, Knight decided to attend a news conference rather than meet with him.

High-profile case garners support for Richard Glossip from Kim Kardashian, Susan Sarandon

Glossip has faced several execution dates, including a 2015 attempt when his lethal injection was called off because the wrong heart-stopping drug had been delivered.

Last year, Glossip married for the second time while on death row.

At the rally Tuesday, Lea Glossip described her pain of planning a funeral with her husband, saying “this has been one of the most tortuous experiences.”

Glossip has become the state's most high-profile death row inmate because of the wide support for his innocence claim.

Kim Kardashian has taken to social media to support Glossip.

Actress Susan Sarandon — who portrayed death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean in the 1995 movie "Dead Man Walking" — also has taken up Glossip's cause.

Prejean has visited Glossip in prison many times and served as his spiritual adviser. She spoke briefly at Tuesday’s rally.

Glossip’s case also has stirred support because he is the subject of the 2017 documentary "Killing Richard Glossip."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Dr. Phil joins Oklahoma lawmakers in call for Richard Glossip retrial