New Evidence Leads Attorney to Urge New Court Trial for Death Row Inmate Richard Glossip

By Amy Berberyan

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – After an investigation yielded new evidence concerning the case for death row inmate Richard Glossip, his attorney, Don Knight, is calling for a court trial before setting his client’s new execution date.

In 1997, Glossip—a manager at Best Budget Inn—was convicted of allegedly hiring Justin Sneed, the maintenance man, to beat to death the motel owner, Barry Van Treese, with a baseball bat.

Sneed confessed to the crime to avoid the death penalty, and claimed Glossip was behind the plot to kill Van Treese. He said Glossip had promised to pay him $10,000 for the murder.

Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998, though the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals voted to unanimously throw out this conviction in 2001 because Glossip received “unconstitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel.”

However, in 2004, a second jury again convicted Glossip and he was again sentenced to death. This time, in 2007, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals voted to maintain the conviction.

Due to this case primarily relying on Sneed’s testimony, many have questioned whether or not he committed the murder and lied about Glossip’s cooperation to avoid the death penalty himself.

Sneed was addicted to methamphetamine at the time of Van Reese’s murder and noted to have broken into cars in the inn’s parking lot during his time working there.

In Glossip v. Gross, which took place in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that lethal injections involving midazolam did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, as outlined in the Eighth Amendment.

Later that year, Glossip received three stays of execution as controversy rose around Oklahoma breaking protocol with its lethal injections.

Defense Attorney Knight said, “We respectfully disagree with the decision of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set an

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How aspiring lawyers can make QWE work for them

Speakers from Flex Legal, Accutrainee and Reed Smith joined a legal education expert from BARBRI to discuss how qualifying work experience is presenting a new and exciting pathway into the profession

The Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) came into force on September 1, 2021. Though in its infancy, it has masses of potential for the legal profession. At Legal Check’s latest virtual event, ‘How to use QWE to qualify as a solicitor’, members from Legal FlexAccutrainee and Reed Smith joined a legal education expert from BARBRI to discuss the changes brought by qualifying work experience (QWE), and the opportunities it brings for aspiring lawyers and the wider legal profession.

The speakers

Robert DudleyVice President of Strategy & Marketing at BARBRI
Will LongFlex Legal’s Head of Client Partnerships and Flex trainee
Meera Fergusonsolicitor and Accutrainee’s Director of Operations
Rebecca SchrodGraduate Recruitment Manager at Reed Smith

1. Gain QWE at multiple firms

Aspiring lawyers can acquire their two years of QWE at up to four different organisations. And they don’t necessarily need to be law firms, with in-house teams, law clinics and unregulated providers of legal services, all now available to offer work that makes the grade. This is cause for celebration according to Meera Ferguson, solicitor and Accutrainee’s Director of Operations. At Accutrainee, which employs trainees who are then seconded out to in-house teams and law firms, “the building blocks had already been set and relationships had been built” for trainees and its client businesses and law firms, she explained.

Will Long, Flex Legal’s Head of Client Partnerships, also shared the same sentiment. Though newer in its inception and with a unique social mobility angle, Flex Legal has been able to capitalize on this shake-up by offering its Flex trainees experiences

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