NOTE: Below is the text of the press release received the morning of November 10 from the defense team of Richard Glossip.

On Thursday, November 10, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals announced it would deny the first of two applications filed by death row inmate Richard Glossip for an evidentiary hearing to consider new evidence of his innocence.

The court reached this decision despite a call from 62 Oklahoma lawmakers (including 44 Republicans) for an evidentiary hearing to allow a full review of that evidence, which includes several affidavits from witnesses offering facts that support the claim that Sneed was a lying, meth-addicted thief, who murdered Barry Van Treese for drug money and that Richard Glossip had nothing to do with this murder.

No juror has ever heard any of this evidence.

The court also chose to disregard a 353-page report from the global law firm Reed Smith which, after an extensive look at the entirety of the case by more than 30 lawyers, concluded that no reasonable juror who heard all the evidence would determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Richard Glossip is guilty of Murder for Hire or deserving of the death penalty.

Richard Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, said today:

“This is a very difficult decision to understand. The evidence of Rich’s innocence, and the State’s misconduct, is overwhelming and deserving of, at the very minimum, a fair hearing where we can present our evidence. This is all we have ever asked for and is something that, obviously, the State is desperate to see never happen.

“We still have another petition pending with the Court setting forth Sneed’s desire to recant his testimony against Rich and, most shockingly, documenting the prosecutor’s serious misconduct in coaching Sneed to change his testimony in the middle of trial. Our fight to free this innocent man will continue, and we remain optimistic that truth and justice will prevail, both for Rich and the citizens of Oklahoma.”

The petition denied today can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/45js877e.

The petition regarding Sneed’s recantation and prosecutorial misconduct, which is still pending at the OCCA, can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/2p98nena

If you are a member of the Oklahoma public, and you think an innocent person shouldn’t be executed, then you can go to www.SaveRichardGlossip.com and urge Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to set this right.

More information about Glossip’s case can be found at www.SaveRichardGlossip.com

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Note and Disclosure : CapitolBeatOK.com is an independent, non-partisan and locally-managed news service. Patrick B. McGuigan is the founder, publisher and editor of this news website, based in Oklahoma City. McGuigan is a dues-paying member of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP).