The last one was Clayton Lockett’s.
“I’ve seen it on TV,” says Glossip, 51, in a telephone call from death row.
He says he’s reconciled with his fate, though he has always maintained his innocence. He says he has long believed that without mental preparation, things will not go well in his final moments.
But when he learned that Lockett’s was one of the longest executions in U.S. history and that he moaned and writhed on the gurney for 43 minutes before dying of a heart attack, a new anxiety set in.
“I am worried they will botch it again,” he says.
Oklahoma’s bungled lethal injection in April horrified people around the world, and the state put a moratorium on executions until it could fully review what happened.
But now Oklahoma is resuming executions using a variation of the same drug formula, much to the dismay of death penalty lawyers who say the state still risks violating the Constitution by inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on inmates.
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“Twice a jury has heard the evidence against Richard Glossip and twice a jury has convicted him and sentenced him to death for his role in the murder of Barry Van Treese,” says Aaron Cooper, a spokesman for the Oklahoma attorney general.
“The attorney general’s office will continue its work to ensure the state is able to carry out the punishment handed down by a jury so justice can be served for the family of Barry Van Treese,” Cooper says.
Glossip holds steadfast to his innocence. He says he is being put to death even though the real killer lied and gets to live.
“I feel sorry for Barry’s family,” Glossip says. “But I did not commit a crime.”
He adds, “At first I was angry at Justin, but now I feel sorry for him. He’s afraid of how Oklahoma will kill him if he owns up to what really happened, just like I am afraid of how they’ll kill me. It’s fear making him lie about what happened.”
These days Glossip thinks about his late parents — his mother died just a year ago — and 14 siblings. He thinks about what it would feel like to see green grass and trees again. To smell fresh air.
They are things that Van Treese’s family wishes their loved one could see now, too.
