OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma inmate was scheduled for a November execution on Wednesday after telling a court he didn’t want to be the first inmate sent to the death chamber following the review of a botched try in April.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set Richard Eugene Glossip’s execution for Nov. 20. Glossip is second in line behind Charles Warner, who had been set to die the same night as a failed execution attempt four weeks ago.
Oklahoma changed its execution protocols in April, but a possible problem with a vein prevented lethal drugs from killing Clayton Lockett on April 29. The state prisons chief stopped the execution but Lockett died later of a heart attack. Oklahoma is reviewing Lockett’s death to determine whether its new mix of midazolam, vercuronium bromide and potassium chloride played a role in his death.
Warner was to have died the same night, but the state agreed to a six-month delay. Warner is to die Nov. 13 for raping and killing his roommate’s daughter.
Glossip was twice convicted of killing Barry Alan Van Treese, 54, on Jan. 7, 1997. Prosecutors said Glossip feared Van Treese would fire him for failing to properly maintain the Best Budget Inn in south Oklahoma City.
Jurors convicted Glossip, 51, in 1998, but the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals voided the trial, ruling that defense lawyers did a poor job. Glossip was against convicted in 2004 by another jury.
Prosecutors said Glossip promised a maintenance man $10,000 to beat Van Treese to death with a baseball bat. The maintenance man pleaded guilty in the death and testified against Glossip.
Glossip’s trial lawyer, Wayne Woodyard, called the planned execution a “miscarriage of justice” since Glossip was not the person that conducted the killing.
Woodyard also voiced concern about how the execution would be carried out.
“There’s a real risk that the execution will follow the same path as Clayton Lockett because the problems associated with Mr. Lockett’s execution are not known, and it’s going to continue, in my view, without having a complete idea of what drugs are being used,” he said.
The state of Oklahoma has repeatedly refused to disclose the source of the drugs used in lethal injections.
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.
In a court filing this month, the office noted that while the state typically asks the court to schedule the execution 60 days after the final appeal is denied, the attorney general’s office asked the court to consider the ongoing investigation before setting Glossip’s execution date.
___
Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KristiEaton .
Please read our comment policy before commenting.