28 September 2015

Oklahoma Court To Execute Probably Innocent Man

Richard Glossip is probably innocent. But, it is a travesty even if he is merely possibly innocent. No reasonable jury would have convicted him of murder applying the beyond a reasonable doubt standard, and sentenced him to death (which arguably invokes an even higher standard of proof) if they had had access to the relevant evidence. This was a weak case almost entirely supported by testimony from a confessed killer who actually did the killing, who received a life sentence in order to secure testimony that they fed to the confessors killer to make the case that Glossip put him up, to it in the absence of any other meaningful evidence. There is strong evidence that the confessed killer would have recanted his story if he didn't believe that he could receive the death penalty for doing so. It is a case of clear law enforcement and prosecutorial misconduct.

But, after an extraordinary two week stay issued four hours before his execution, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (the highest court in the state in criminal matter) has denied him relief by a 3-2 vote and he is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday at 3 p.m. local time.

No comments: