McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — The latest on the scheduled execution of Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip (all times local):
11:50 a.m.
An appeals court has agreed to halt the execution of an Oklahoma man who claims he was framed for the 1997 beating death of his boss.
Richard Eugene Glossip was scheduled for execution at 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. But the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request from Glossip’s attorneys, who say they needed more time to explore new evidence.
Glossip was twice convicted of ordering the killing of Barry Van Treese, who owned the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. His co-worker, Justin Sneed, was convicted of fatally beating Van Treese and was a key prosecution witness in Glossip’s trials.
But Glossip’s attorneys say they have new evidence, including a signed affidavit from another inmate who claims he heard Sneed admit he set Glossip up.
8:50 a.m.
Oklahoma prison officials are following a new execution protocol following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld the state’s three-drug formula.
Under the protocol, inmate Richard Glossip’s telephone and visitation privileges were terminated at 9 p.m. Tuesday ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s scheduled execution. He is still allowed to speak with his attorneys, who have filed a last-minute request to stop the execution.
The protocol maintains that Glossip will be moved to a special cell as he awaits execution at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He is allowed to have a pen and paper, religious items, a book or magazine, and toiletries including soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush and a comb.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terri Watkins says Glossip received a special last meal on Tuesday, but that he’ll have his normal breakfast and lunch Wednesday. Watkins says Glossip’s last meal was chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and a dinner roll from Chili’s; two orders of fish and chips from Long John Silver’s; and a strawberry malt and Baconator cheeseburger from Wendy’s.
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This item has been corrected to show Glossip’s telephone and visitation privileges were terminated at 9 p.m. Tuesday, not 11 p.m.
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12:30 a.m.
Oklahoma is preparing to carry out its first execution since a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state’s three-drug formula used in lethal injections.
Richard Glossip is scheduled to be executed at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was convicted of ordering the beating death of a motel owner in 1997 in what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire.
Glossip, 52, was the lead plaintiff in a case before the nation’s high court that argued the sedative midazolam violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment because it didn’t adequately render an inmate unconscious before the second and third drugs were administered. The justices upheld the formula in a 5-4 opinion issued in June.
Glossip has maintained his innocence, and his attorneys filed a last-minute request for a stay of execution late Tuesday.
