OKLAHOMA CITY—Talk show host and clinical psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw stood on the steps of the Oklahoma Capitol and said the state planned to execute an innocent man but still had time to correct its error.
“The highest law enforcement officer in the state of Oklahoma courageously stood up and said, ‘We blew this.’ You’ve admitted it; now make it right,” McGraw told a crowd of about 300 on May 9, 2023.
“No execution should be carried out.”
The demonstration was initially planned to persuade Gov. Kevin Stitt to grant death row inmate Richard Glossip a reprieve.
On Friday, May 5, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Glossip a stay of execution while considering two writs of certiorari in his murder case.
McGraw, and other Glossip supporters, said their fight was not over.
A former Oklahoma County District Attorney who has been singled out for criticism by those supporters called McGraw’s claim that Glossip did not receive a fair trial “absurd.”
David Prater was Oklahoma County District Attorney from 2007 to January 2023. He told The Epoch Times that the truth is in the court record.
“If people will review the complete record, they will understand what the truth is,” Prater said.
McGraw, flanked by pro-capital punishment politicians and anti-death penalty activists, said he had seen the evidence and is convinced Glossip did not receive a fair trial. McGraw said he doesn’t get involved in every case he is presented.
“I’ve got to really believe in them before I stand up,” McGraw said.
He told the gathering that one of three factors is present every time someone is wrongfully convicted: perjury, baseless accusations, or official misconduct.
“All three of those things have happened here,” McGraw said.
State Rep Kevin McDugle told The Epoch Times he was initially skeptical of Glossip’s supporters, including Justin Jackson, the Oklahoma businessman who first told him of the case.
However, as he learned more details, his skepticism waned.
McDugle got a coalition of 34 Oklahoma legislators from both parties to appoint a special counsel to investigate Glossip’s case. He told the crowd he wasn’t out to prove Glossip’s guilt or innocence.
“If he’s guilty, I want to know it; if he’s innocent, I want to know that,” McDugle said.
The Philadelphia-based law firm of Reed Smith investigated the case. It issued a 300-page report that claims to have uncovered new evidence, including evidence of mistakes and prosecutorial misconduct.
McDugle said the report shows that prosecutors coached Glossip’s co-defendant Justin Sneed to change his testimony. He claims the report contains a signed affidavit from a police officer who says he was told to destroy physical evidence and recantation letters from Sneed.
Prater said that most of the new evidence consists of statements. A central claim is that Glossip’s juries weren’t told that Sneed was taking lithium for mental health issues or that he had been diagnosed with a mental illness.
“[The jury is] entitled to know that,” McGraw said.
Prater, who was not in office at the time of Glossip’s trial, said one reason the jury may not have been given that information is that it probably never existed. Prater said he tried to get Sneed’s medical records from the jail but was told none.
He said Glossip’s team only got an affidavit this year from a former jail doctor who said that if Sneed was treated for mental health issues, he is the doctor who would have done it.
“It doesn’t say, ‘I remember seeing Justin Sneed,’ it doesn’t say that,” Prater said.
Prater also denied withholding or destroying evidence, saying that if it did happen, it was before he was in office.
Prater Says Attorneys Were Ethical
“I knew Gina Walker, and she was very opposed to the death penalty. She was very ethical. That letter has been mischaracterized as some collusion to have Mr. Sneed perjure himself,” Prater said.Glossip and Sneed were convicted of the 1997 murder of their employer Barry van Treese.
According to court records, Sneed was sentenced to life without parole as part of a plea deal in which he agreed to testify against Glossip.
In a history-making move, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond asked the Pardon and Parole Board at its April 27, 2023, hearing to stay Glossip’s execution. Drummond, who was not in office when Glossip was convicted, said the state denied Glossip a fair trial.
Glossip Can Still be Executed
In 1997, Sneed was a 19-year-old roofer and methamphetamine addict whom Glossip had hired to do maintenance work at the motel. When he confessed to the murder, Sneed told police Glossip was afraid that Van Treese suspected him of stealing from the motel.During a videotaped interrogation from 1997 that has been posted on YouTube by a group called SaveRichardGlossip, Sneed told police Glossip promised him $10,000 if he would kill Van Treese. Sneed is serving a life sentence.
The Court of Criminal Appeals for Oklahoma issued an opinion on April 20, 2023, stating that after two trials, five appeals, and two reprieves, the former motel manager had exhausted all his legal options.
“Glossip is neither entitled to post-conviction relief nor a stay of execution,” the Appeals Court decision reads.
McGraw said the Supreme Court decision was not the end of the fight. He encouraged everyone to continue to contact their representatives about the case. Glossip’s Colorado-based attorney agreed. Don Knight has been working on the case pro bono.
“We’re not done with this stay. Richard Glossip is still in danger of being executed,” Knight told the crowd. “We’re happy with what happened last Friday, but we’re not done.”
