Richard Glossip Gets Stay Of Execution With Just A Few Hours To Spare

At 1:13 PM, the appeals court said that it would agree to stall the execution of Richard Glossip, even as his lawyers asked for time to examine some new evidence, just a few hours before the fatal one, according to the Associated Press.

There had been a stunning new statement by his fellow inmate, Michael Scott, who said that he had overheard Justin Sneed, one more convict, confess that he had acted alone in the murder of Barry Van Treese.

Just that morning, Richard Glossip was going to be executed at 10:03 AM, Wednesday, for the killing of Barry Van Treese, even though there are still objections about the nature of his crime, and how he would be executed.

He had been convicted for the 1997 murder of motel owner Barry Van Treese. However, he did not commit it, according to FOX's Oklahoma affiliate.

The actual killer had been Justin Sneed, who was 19 then. He had given the testimony that he had been hired by Glossip to kill Treese, due to which he got away with a life sentence, but Glossip was going to get executed.

Those who took up for Glossip, including Sister Helen Prejean, who minsters to prisoners on death row, said that there was no "physical evidence" that tied Glossip to the crime, even as the accounts used by the prosecution were not consistent, reported CNN. Treese had submitted many inconsistent and contradictory statements of the events during the police probe and trial testimony.

Although a shower curtain and duct tape had been used to cover a motel window, which got broken even as the murder took place, the fingerprints of Glossip were not found on the items.

Hence, Glossip's lawyers feel that Sneed was forced to give false statements. One inmate said he overheard Sneed say that Glossip was "innocent" and that "he'd set Glossip up".

"We are headed to the governor's office right now to present our new information and to ask her to please grant a 60-day stay on Mr. Glossip's execution," Knight said.

The execution, if done, will use the controversial drug midazolam. Last year it had been questioned due to the drug leaving an inmate writhing in pain for 43 minutes, before dying of a heart attack.

Finally, it was found that the IV lines not being linked correctly, while the drug itself was not at fault. However, Glossip had been afraid of a similar death.

"I am worried they will botch it again," he said.

The defense team has been given time till 3 p.m. to convince the governor to grant Glossip a stay of execution, according to hngn.