Ex-death row inmate Richard Glossip in limbo: AG Drummond rejects prior settlement

Attorneys for former death row inmate Richard Glossip filed a motion Wednesday asking a judge to force Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond to uphold the terms of an agreement they say he made in 2023.

Richard Glossip spent nearly three decades on death row for a 1997 murder conviction in the death of Barry Van Treese. In February, the United States Supreme Court vacated Glossip’s conviction and sentence and mandated that he receive a new trial.

In the latest motion, Glossip’s attorneys say Drummond agreed to “settle and resolve the case against him in exchange for a release of Mr. Glossip’s right to sue the State for the admitted egregious prosecutorial misconduct that led to his prior conviction and death sentence.”

In court documents, Glossip’s attorneys say the agreement stated that upon the vacating of the sentence, he would plead guilty to a charge of Accessory After the Fact. The maximum sentence for the crime in 1997 was 45 years. Attorneys say the parties agreed to a sentence of 45 years in the Department of Corrections. The document also says both the defense and the Attorney General agreed that credit for time served and credit for being a good inmate, means Glossip completed his sentence in 2016 and is eligible for immediate release.

However, in June, Drummond announced the state would re-try Glossip for murder but would not seek the death penalty.

In a response to Glossip’s latest motion, the Attorney General says the parties never reached a final plea agreement and “negotiations more recently have proven fruitless.” The AG advised the state is formally rejecting the proposed plea agreement from 2023.

More on Richard Glossip HERE.