Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip could get new execution date, in 2024

Oklahoma's new attorney general on Monday asked for another delay in death row inmate Richard Glossip's execution — until August 2024.

Glossip currently is set to be executed May 18 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond made the request as Glossip filed another new challenge to his conviction.

The latest challenge came after Glossip's attorneys were given access on Jan. 27 to prosecutors' notes "in the interest of full disclosure."

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is expected to grant the delay.

Glossip has become the state's most high-profile death row inmate because of the wide support for his innocence claim. Among his most outspoken supporters are conservative Republican legislators.

More: First prison wife of death row inmate Richard Glossip says he 'used me for financial gain'

He also is high profile because of a twist of fate. His 2015 lethal injection was called off after a doctor realized the wrong heart-stopping drug had been delivered.

At the AG's request, the Court of Criminal Appeals already has pushed back Glossip's execution date once this year — from February to May.

Judges on Jan. 24 reset execution dates for Glossip and six other inmates after Drummond told them "the current pace of executions is unsustainable in the long run."

Drummond asked the court to give the Oklahoma Department of Corrections 60 days between executions rather than 30 "to alleviate the burden on DOC personnel."

The attorney general on Jan. 26 announced that he had hired a former district attorney to look into Glossip's innocence claim.

More: Richard Glossip, six other Oklahoma death row inmates get new execution dates

“Circumstances surrounding this case necessitate a thorough review," he said in a news release. "While I am confident in our judicial system, that does not allow me to ignore evidence."

In his request Monday, Drummond told the Court of Criminal Appeals the independent investigation is ongoing.

Glossip, 60, claims he was framed for the murder of his boss, Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese. The Court of Criminal Appeals in November rejected two new challenges to his conviction.

His boss 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.

A motel maintenance man, Justin Sneed, 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.

More: Oklahoma sets execution dates for 25 death row inmates through end of 2024

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

They claim Sneed, a meth addict, made admissions in jail and later in prison about framing Glossip and also has talked of recanting his testimony.

Among the claims in the latest challenge is that prosecutors kept secret that a jail psychiatrist had diagnosed Sneed with bipolar disorder. Glossip contends his defense attorneys could have used this crucial information at the retrial.

Glossip in January asked the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved.

"The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ... has placed an innocent life in peril, refusing to hold the State to account for suppressing exculpatory evidence that would have gutted the prosecution’s 'murder-for-hire' theory," his attorneys told justices in a petition.

Justices have not decided yet whether to review his case. Among those urging them to is Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow.

"States must not be rewarded for their misconduct by imposing a herculean barrier to relief from that malfeasance, lest citizens lose trust in the criminal legal system," attorneys for the lawmaker wrote in a friend-of-the court brief.

Eight inmates have been executed in Oklahoma since lethal injections resumed in 2021 after a six-year moratorium.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Will Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip get execution delay?