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OKLAHOMA (USA): DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS URGE GOVERNOR TO DELAY GLOSSIP’S EXECUTION
September 3, 2015: Family and supporters of a condemned Oklahoma death row inmate today have delivered more than 250,000 online petitions to Oklahoma's governor Mary Fallin, urging her to grant a 60-day stay of execution.
Richard Eugene Glossip is to be executed Sept. 16. Glossip was found guilty in the murder-for-hire scheme of Barry Van Treese in 1997.
Glossip's case has received international attention since actress Susan Sarandon, who played a death penalty opponent in the 1995 movie "Dead Man Walking," took up his cause. The woman Sarandon portrayed in the movie, anti-death penalty advocate Sister Helen Prejean, helped deliver the petitions Thursday to Gov., Mary Fallin's office. Prejean said Glossip's defense was ineffective and she believes he is innocent. She said Glossip will die based on the testimony of Justin Sneed, the maintenance worker who killed Van Treese. Sneed said Glossip hired him to do it. "There's not a fingerprint of Richard Glossip on the money," Prejean said. "There's no forensic evidence to corroborate what Justin Sneed said. Solely on his word, Richard is going to his death."
Fallin spokesperson Alex Weintz said the execution will go forward. He said 2 juries found Glossip guilty and both sentenced him to death. Fallin won't 2nd-guess them. (Source: Associated Press, KGOU news, 03/09/2015)
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