Bond Set for Death Row Inmate Who Won Supreme Court Reprieve (1)

An Oklahoma death row inmate whose conviction was overturned by the US Supreme Court last year may soon be released on bond.

Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai on Thursday set bond for Richard Glossip at $500,000. He will be required to wear an ankle monitor and live at home with his wife, and to abide by a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.

The justices in a 5-3 decision in February 2025 vacated Glossip’s capital murder conviction over constitutional violations by prosecutors, including withholding favorable evidence from his attorneys and failing to correct false testimony from a key witness at trial.

“It’s been a lot of years we’ve been working to help Rich out of this terrible situation the state put him in,” Don Knight, an attorney representing Glossip, said. “To finally get to a place where we can actually have him leave custody while we continue to fight on his behalf is amazing.”

Glossip was convicted in a murder-for-hire case for allegedly paying another man to kill his boss, Barry Van Treese, in 1997 at the Oklahoma City hotel where he worked.

Two of the court’s conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined the three liberals in vacating Glossip’s conviction. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the majority in part and dissented in part. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who had heard a different iteration of the case while a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, recused.

The justices, who rarely hear death penalty cases, agreed to review Glossip’s petition after Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond concluded the state couldn’t defend the conviction. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals had previously declined to accept the state’s confession of error.

Drummond, who is now running for the Republican nomination for Oklahoma governor, said last summer he intends to retry Glossip on first-degree murder charges. A new trial date has not yet been set.

Knight said Glossip’s legal team is seeking a new preliminary hearing. That motion is still under review.

The case is Glossip v. Oklahoma, U.S., No. 22-7466, decided on 2/25/25.