Richard Glossip walked out of an Oklahoma jail on Thursday, still wearing the gray short-sleeved shirt and jeans he had on when a judge set his bail hours earlier, his wife Lea’s hand in his, free for the first time in nearly 30 years. Behind him lay a capital case that had seen nine execution dates set and three last meals eaten, a conviction the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled for prosecutorial misconduct, and a future that now depends on a new trial.
“I’m just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful,” Glossip said, his voice carrying a mixture of disbelief and relief. “It’s overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time.”
Glossip’s release — on $500,000 bond, under electronic monitoring, and with orders not to leave Oklahoma — came after Oklahoma City District Judge Natalie Mai approved the bail arrangement earlier Thursday. The judge warned that she expects the case to be prosecuted vigorously, saying she hopes a new trial “free of error” will bring closure.
The central pillar of that error, and the reason Glossip no longer faces execution, was the Supreme Court’s ruling last year. In a stinging rebuke, the justices found that Oklahoma prosecutors knowingly allowed a key witness to give false testimony in the murder-for-hire case against Glossip, fatally poisoning the 2004 trial. The victim, motel owner Barry Van Treese, had been beaten to death with a baseball bat in Oklahoma City in 1997, and prosecutors alleged Glossip had paid a handyman to carry out the killing.
Glossip had sat on death row while courts repeatedly scheduled — and then postponed — his lethal injection. In 2015, he was held in a cell next to the state’s execution chamber, the hour of his death passing only because prison officials realized they had received the wrong drug. That drug mix-up triggered a nearly seven-year halt to executions in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican who inherited the case, declined to continue seeking the death penalty when he announced the state would try Glossip again. The family of Van Treese had urged the Supreme Court to leave the conviction in place; their attorneys did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The case’s trajectory from a death-row staple to a symbol of criminal-justice missteps drew support far beyond legal circles. Actress Susan Sarandon — who won an Oscar playing death-penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean — became a public advocate for Glossip, while Kim Kardashian highlighted his case as part of her criminal-justice reform work. The 2017 documentary “Killing Richard Glossip” brought the details of the case to a national audience.
Donald Knight, one of Glossip’s attorneys, captured the tone of the day. “Mr. Glossip now has the chance to taste freedom while his defense team continues to pursue justice on his behalf against a system that the United States Supreme Court has found to be guilty of serious misconduct by state prosecutors,” Knight said.
Lea Glossip, in a text message to The Associated Press, added: “Both Richard and I are grateful for the court’s decision. We have been praying for this day.”