After Nearly 30 Years on Death Row, Richard Glossip Has Murder Charge Dropped, Pleads Guilty to Lesser Offense
Richard Glossip in a November 2014 photo from prison; Glossip seen leaving the Oklahoma County Courthouse in June 2026Credit: Janelle Stecklein, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. via AP; AP Photo/Nate Billings
Oklahoma has dismissed the murder charge against former death row inmate Richard Glossip
Glossip, 63, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder on Thursday, Nov. 12
He was expected to face a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his murder conviction in February 2025, citing prosecutorial misconduct
Oklahoma has dismissed the murder charge against Richard Glossip, who spent nearly 30 years on death row after being convicted of ordering the 1997 killing of his boss before his conviction was overturned in 2025.
However, Glossip, 63, pleaded guilty Thursday, Nov. 12, to being an accessory after the fact, acknowledging that he helped cover up the crime.
“For 30 years, Richard Glossip has maintained his innocence,” Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, wrote in a statement to PEOPLE on Thursday, Nov. 12. “After nearly executing him nine times, the State of Oklahoma has now dismissed the murder charge against him. This morning, to finally put this matter to rest, Rich pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.”
“We believe Rich has more than paid his debt to society by spending nearly 30 years on death row, during which time he was served three last meals, and came within minutes of being executed for a crime he did not commit,” Knight added.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Glossip’s murder conviction and ordered a new trial in February 2025, citing prosecutorial misconduct, including false testimony and the destruction of evidence.
In a statement shared after the Supreme Court’s decision, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he agreed that Glossip “did not receive a fair trial” and that a new trial was justified. It was later ruled that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty in Glossip’s new trial.
An Oklahoma judge then ordered Glossip’s release on $500,000 bail, and he was freed in May 2026 on multiple conditions, The New York Times reported.
“I’m just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful,” he said at the time, per the . “It’s overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time.”
Glossip was convicted of capital murder in 1998 after being accused of orchestrating the killing of Barry Van Treese, who owned the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. Van Treese was beaten to death in 1997 with a baseball bat in what prosecutors described as a murder-for-hire scheme, per the AP.
Prosecutors alleged that Glossip offered motel handyman Justin Sneed $10,000 to kill Treese, per The New York Times. During trial, Sneed pleaded guilty to first-degree murder under a deal in which he would testify against Glossip. Sneed received a sentence of life in prison without parole, while Glossip was handed down the death sentence.
Glossip’s original conviction was overturned in 2001 because of ineffective assistance of counsel, per the AP. However, he was convicted again in 2004 and sentenced to death. More appeals followed over the years.
According to Knight, “Mr. Glossip’s conviction was based almost entirely on false statements made by Sneed that he later sought to recant.”
In its decision, the Supreme Court said prosecutors failed to correct Sneed’s false testimony and did not disclose his psychiatric condition, the AP previously reported. The court added that prosecutors destroyed evidence and withheld witness statements.
“Because Sneed’s testimony was the only direct evidence of Glossip’s guilt of capital murder, the jury’s assessment of Sneed’s credibility was necessarily determinative here,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her opinion, per NBC News.
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Knight said Glossip has “been living a peaceful and law-abiding life” since his release. However, he is now scheduled to be sentenced in December following Thursday’s guilty plea.
“We look forward to an opportunity to show why returning him to custody would not serve the interests of justice, and to ending this nightmare for Rich and all concerned,” Knight said.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office for comment on Glossip’s guilty plea.
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