Attorneys representing Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, who is scheduled to die Thursday, plan to file a request to stay his execution in light of the recent news that the U.S. Supreme Court will review his case.
Dale Baitch, the public defender representing Glossip, wouldn’t specify whether he and his colleagues will ask the country’s highest court or Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) to suspend the execution, adding that he’d “rather not predict” what the specifics of a Supreme Court decision could mean for Glossip’s future. “At this moment, we’re in a ‘wait and see’ posture,” he told The Huffington Post.
Glossip and two other inmates claim Oklahoma’s lethal injection procedure can cause severe pain that violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to take up their case.
“It’s the first time in a long time that I let myself get a little more excited than normal,” Glossip, 51, told HuffPost after hearing the Supreme Court news. “I finally got a victory. A small victory — but it uplifted me.”
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“Over the next couple of days, the issues the [Supreme Court] wants to hear will become clear,” Baich said. “The fact that four justices wanted to hear the case suggests that they don’t want it mooted out by the three petitioners being executed.”
In the meantime, Glossip remains optimistic, vowing to fight until the very end. “I don’t give up hope in any way, shape or form,” he told HuffPost. “Because until they lay you on that table and stick them needles in you and you’re completely dead, you always have hope. I’ll never let them take that away from me, no matter what.”
Hear Glossip discuss his situation in his own words below:
