UPDATE, Sept. 30, 5:59 p.m.: Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin issued a 37-day stay of execution for Richard Glossip on Wednesday as officials were ready to carry out his execution. The official cause of the day is so the state may review its lethal injection procedure. READ MORE
The state of Oklahoma is set to execute a man on Wednesday despite strong suspicion he was framed for the killing that put him on death row and despite protests from petition signers to the likes of billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson.
Richard Glossip is accused of ordering Justin Sneed to murder their former boss, Barry Alan Van Treese, the owner of a Best Budget Inn that Glossip managed, because Glossip may have feared losing his job.
He was convicted after the 1997 killing of Van Treese, despite what's been described as a remarkable lack of evidence against him. Sneed, a former maintenance worker at the hotel, is serving life in prison, having avoided the death penalty by telling prosecutors Glossip had paid him to kill Van Treese.
Many who have studied the case believe Glossip is innocent. His conviction was overturned in 2001 only for him to be convicted again in 2004, on largely the same evidence.
Oklahoma set to execute Richard Glossip this afternoon - http://t.co/adjRqRD4KL— Grasswire (@Grasswire) September 30, 2015
Branson, the founder of Virgin who has actively campaigned against the death penalty, ran an ad in The Oklahoman on Tuesday that called on "the government and citizens of Oklahoma" to call Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and request a stay of execution.
"Your state is about to execute a man whose guilt has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt," the ad reads. "No matter where you stand on the death penalty, you must agree that no innocent person deserves to die."
In a letter written by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on behalf of Pope Francis, Viganò asked the governor to commute Glossip's sentence.
Letter on behalf of Pope Francis asking Ok. Gov Mary Fallin to commute Richard Glossip's death sentence. pic.twitter.com/iprFFpLCts— Tasneem N (@TasneemN) September 30, 2015
Famed author and anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean has campaigned on his behalf. Nearly 250,000 people have signed a MoveOn.org petition she helped start, asking Fallin to stay Glossip's execution. Around 55,000 people have signed a Change.org petition asking the same thing of the governor.
Even Sneed's adult daughter, Justine, believes Glossip is innocent. The only reason her father hasn't told the truth, she's said, is because he's worried he'll be put on death row.
Justin Sneed discusses the case that put him away for life and #RichardGlossip on death row https://t.co/sB1KsUVV9A pic.twitter.com/HS2wsY0dpn— Dylan Goforth (@DGoforth918) September 24, 2015
Sneed's statement is the primary evidence on which Glossip was convicted, though a man who met Sneed in jail in 2006 recently came forward to say he heard Sneed talk about avoiding death row by lying about Glossip.
Police arrested the man who came forward -- Michael Scott -- who says he was then questioned by Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater about his statement regarding Sneed.
Prater, the prosecuting attorney, has been adamant that Glossip is guilty, and dismissed Scott's statement. But many have questioned why Prater would interrogate a man who had little important information to give.
Glossip's 2004 conviction was upheld in 2008 and again, by a different court, in 2013. Since then, the date of his execution has been put off due to questions about the legality of one of the drugs used in lethal injections.
Then, just two weeks ago, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals granted a brief stay of execution due to new evidence before deciding that the new evidence wasn't worth further delaying the execution.
Glossip's execution is scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. CDT.