The Supreme Court yesterday blocked the execution of an Oklahoma death row inmate who claims he is innocent in an unusual case in which the state’s attorney general agreed that the underlying conviction was unsound. Via NBC News:
The court in a brief order granted the request made by inmate Richard Glossip, who was convicted of arranging the murder of his boss at the Oklahoma City motel where he worked.
The decision means that Glossip’s execution, scheduled for May 18, will no longer go ahead while his court challenge continues. The state has stopped short of saying Glossip is innocent, meaning there could still be a new trial if the conviction is thrown out.
In an “NBC Nightly News” interview hours before the ruling was released, Glossip said he hoped that if he were executed, his death would be the last and would “stop this from happening to anybody else ever in the United States.”
