Former Oklahoma death row inmate granted bond after nearly 3 decades of incarceration

Oklahoma District Choose Natalie Mai on Thursday ordered former demise row inmate Richard Glossip to be launched from jail for the primary time in 29 years whereas awaiting a retrial. Throughout these 29 years, Glossip famously confronted a number of execution dates and ate his “final meal” thrice.

Mai set the bail quantity at $500,000, with launch contingent upon Glossip complying with sure situations, comparable to carrying an digital monitoring machine, observing a curfew, remaining throughout the state of Oklahoma, and refraining from chatting with any witnesses.

The order cited a letter written by the lawyer basic in April 2023 to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, which acknowledged that the document doesn’t help that Glossip is responsible of first-degree homicide past an inexpensive doubt. Below the Oklahoma Structure, bail should be granted until there’s clear and convincing proof of guilt, main the court docket to conclude that it couldn’t moderately deny bail.

The case stems from a murder-for-hire plot of Glossip’s former boss, Barry Van Treese, in 1997. Purported co-conspirator Justin Sneed confessed at trial to beating Van Treese to demise, however claimed Glossip supplied him cash to take action. Glossip maintained his innocence all through his protection, denying that he had any involvement with the precise homicide.

Whereas Glossip was imprisoned, his case confronted a collection of authorized challenges surrounding his proper to a good trial, finally culminating within the February 2025 determination by the US Supreme Court docket to overturn his conviction. The court docket’s 5-3 ruling was largely based mostly on the prosecution’s failure to appropriate Sneed’s false testimony.

Following the choice, the prosecution indicated its intent to retry Glossip on the prevailing first-degree homicide costs, however to not pursue the demise penalty.

Glossip’s lawyer, Don Knight, acknowledged that he’s grateful that Choose Mai granted bond:

In doing so, she rejected the State’s declare that there’s a robust case for guilt. For the primary time in 29 years of being incarcerated for against the law he didn’t commit, throughout which he confronted 9 execution dates and at 3 final meals, Mr. Glossip now has the prospect to style freedom whereas his protection group continues to pursue justice on his behalf in opposition to a system that the USA Supreme Court docket has discovered to be responsible of significant misconduct by state prosecutors.

Within the bond order, Mai acknowledged that “the Court docket hopes {that a} new trial, freed from error, will present all events, and the residents of Oklahoma, the closure they deserve.”