Governor Fallin’s Life or Death Decision

To the Editor:
 
Governor Mary Fallin can and must grant a 60-day stay of execution to Richard Glossip, so that his attorneys can continue their investigation into his probable innocence. 


Glossip is scheduled to die on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Even without the stay the new team of attorneys found two prison-mates of Justin Sneed, Glossip’s accuser, willing to testify that they heard Sneed bragging that he earned his life sentence by accusing Glossip of paying him to do the murder. On Sneed’s own word, he got “life” and Richard Glossip received the death penalty.

The new attorneys have also uncovered information about Mr. Sneed’s drug addiction, and stealing to support it, that the jury never heard, and which would have contributed to doubt about Sneed’s accusations and Glossip’s guilt.

Ten death row inmates in Oklahoma have already been found wrongly convicted, some of them exonerated only days before their executions. 

Glossip’s case has received international attention, and the eyes of the world are on Oklahoma and Governor Fallin. 

By granting the stay, she would demonstrate commitment to true justice and could prevent the execution of an innocent man. 

What does she have to lose?

 
Nathaniel Batchelder,
The Peace House, Oklahoma City
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