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An Oklahoma GOP representative questioned the conviction of Richard Glossip on Monday morning as the death row inmate's death penalty looms and the state moves to resume executions.
Appearing in the local newspaper Tulsa World, State Representative Kevin McDugle said Glossip's death penalty case was "perhaps the most unsettling" in Oklahoma as he called for executions to be stayed if authorities could not "guarantee accuracy."
He also said no jury had been able to hear an "avalanche of new witnesses" willing to testify that Glossip had "nothing to do" with the murder of Barry Van Treese in 1997.
Glossip was convicted of the crime after prosecutors accused him of persuading then-19-year-old Justin Sneed into killing Van Treese with a baseball bat. The death row inmate's lawyers have cast doubt on the testimony of Sneed, who claimed to have been convinced by Glossip to commit the murder.
Writing for Tulsa World, McDugle said: "Glossip was never accused of committing the actual murder. A meth-addled maintenance man named Justin Sneed confessed to the killing, but Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy accused Glossip of ordering the hit.
"Since 1997, Glossip has never changed his story of that night. However, during Glossip's two criminal trials, Sneed presented wildly different accounts of how and why this crime happened."
After pleading the innocence of Glossip and arguing that a grant of clemency could be the death row inmate's "best chance" of avoiding another execution date, McDugle said: "As taxpayers and voters, we are all participating in this decision to kill — each of us has a finger on the needle that injects the poison.
"No matter where you stand on the death penalty, no Oklahoman wants to kill an innocent man. These are life-and-death decisions which must be made with life-and-death accuracy. If we cannot guarantee accuracy, the executions should wait."
Newsweek has contacted the office of State Rep. McDugle for further comment.
The state representative questioned Glossip's conviction after state officials said they planned to resume death penalty executions earlier this year, ending a five-year moratorium.
The New York Times reported in mid-February that Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) said the block on executions would end in 150 days. Executions were first blocked over problems involved in two cases where lethal injections were not administered properly, leading to complications.
