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Amy Robach
This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. If audiobooks are your thing or you've been meaning to listen to more of them, you should check out a podcast called earsay, the Audible and I Heart Audiobook Club. Hosted by Cal Penn.
TJ Holmes
Each episode spotlights standout audiobooks on Audible across all kinds of genres. Sci fi, comedy, romance, thrillers and more. With Cal talking to guests who help break down what makes each story worth listening to.
Amy Robach
It's a fun, easy way to discover your next great, great audiobook.
TJ Holmes
Check out Earsay on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Amy Robach
I turned off news altogether.
Geico Advertiser
I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Kal Penn
It's the rage bait.
Amy Robach
It feels like it's trying to divide people.
Bowen Yang
If we got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little.
Kal Penn
NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
TJ Holmes
Hey there, folks. It is Wednesday, June 24, and he spent 30 years on death row. Kim Kardashian paid to get him out of prison and now the state of Oklahoma is trying to put him right back in. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. In what has been a 30 year saga and ordeal and robes, they keep writing new chapters on this story for this death row former death row inmate that's Right.
Amy Robach
And yes, saga is a really good way to put it. We're talking about 63 year old Richard Glossip. And yes, he spent nearly three decades on death row and it wasn't until last year, 2025, February, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned his conviction. This is significant. And then yes, just last month he is released on bond. He walks out of prison for the first time in nearly 30 years thanks to the Supreme Court and yes, thanks
TJ Holmes
to Kim Kardashian who paid the he. She footed the bill for him to get $500,000. She footed that bill. She is not the only celebrity who has been a part of this. I think Richard Branson is the other big name that I've seen. But a lot of groups are this isn't just an anti death penalty. This is a case where a lot of people think this is a guy who is innocent, who Robes was on death row for 30 years. But when you think about how close he got to dying several times in that 30 years, that's the kind of stuff that'll give you chills about the death penalty in this country, babe.
Amy Robach
He had nine execution dates. Think about that. The governor of Oklahoma throughout the years, it wasn't always the same. Governor actually scheduled his execution nine different times and three of those times he nearly died. One of them he was moments away. We'll get into that in just a moment. But he has been through. If he is innocent, can you imagine what this man has gone through over the past three decades?
TJ Holmes
Yeah. And the we talk about there Robes, how close he's gotten to death, this he got close and he wasn't saved because there was an issue necessarily with his case where people talked about his innocence. No, these were technicalities and having to do with drugs and whatnot. But we will get more into that and how close he came including several last meals that he ate for Robes. He was in court. And the reason we're talking about this now is because he was just in court waiting for his fate to find out Robes whether or not they're trying to put his butt right back on death row. The answer there is no, however correct.
Amy Robach
So he was trying through his attorneys to have this judge go back to the beginning of his case and actually have a preliminary hearing where they even they had to actually go over whether or not there was enough evidence to proceed with a trial. That's what his attorneys wanted. The state of Oklahoma said now the Supreme Court, yes, may have vacated his conviction, but they actually said he needs a new trial. And so the judge agreed with the state of Oklahoma and set a trial date now. And this will be his gloss of third trial. He actually gave him the date of September 28th. So just in a few months, he will go back to court to face murder charges once again. But there is a difference this time the state of Oklahoma will not be seeking the death penalty. They will be seeking life in prison.
TJ Holmes
But again, this is a guy who didn't kill anybody, but he is the one who is who was credited and convicted for putting the whole motion, a whole higher murder for hire in motion and he got the death penalty ro. This case is a mess. It's a legal mess in a lot of ways that have to do with prosecutorial misconduct, misconduct, evidence being withheld, robes, you don't have to be a lawyer. You can watch just a half a season of Law and Order. And you know, one of the biggest no nos is withholding evidence from the defense. Of course he should get a new trial.
Amy Robach
Correct. And to kind of go through how he's now on his third trial. In 2001, his first trial was overturned because or the conviction was overturned because they ruled the gloss up didn't have adequate counsel. So he was retri in 2004 where he was once again sentenced to death. And then, yes, now in 2025, the Supreme Court overturned that 2004 conviction, saying that there were trial errors and that the state used testimony that it knew was false. And that is the reason why he is now getting his third trial.
TJ Holmes
And again, Rob, this is there was was a Napu violation that they call it. This is essentially, if a prosecutor is up there and you hear your your witness give a false statement, you are under obligation to correct it. They didn't. They call this a nap you violation. It is a clear and plain as day. You know your witness is lying, you're supposed to correct it. They did not.
Amy Robach
Yes, and it's significant because the witness was truly the only evidence that the state has against Gloss Up. So this all goes back to a 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of best budget in owner Barry Van Treese. Now, Barry Van Treese was Glossip's boss. And so prosecutors say that Glossip had a murder for hire scheme where he asked someone else, a worker there, his name is Justin Sneed, to kill Van Tree so that he could take over the motel. That is the prosecution's theory, and that is what two different juries actually convicted him for, that he was the mastermind. So Justin Sneed, the man who actually admitted to Beating this motel manager with a baseball bat. He is the one. He got a deal with prosecutors to get life in prison, took the death penalty off the table. If he pleaded guilty and then testified
TJ Holmes
against Glossip, which he did, he took that deal. And he is the only direct evidence of the direct link. Now, they have other type of evidence, circumstantial stuff, but the only direct evidence that they do have happens to be this guy. So it's not a stretch, Robes, to call this guy the star witness. He gave false testimony. That testimony, though, Robes, wasn't directly related to the crime itself. And what happened. This is fascinating. The Supreme Court made this ruling and that he is due process was violated for Glossett because this guy gave up, got up there. And the testimony in question had to do with his medical background. It had to do with whether or not he was bipolar and was on lithium. Rose. I didn't think much of that, but the Supreme Court ruled if the jury had known about this background, known that he had a violent background, known that he was on lithium, known that he was severely. Had this severe mental illness, it might have changed how they viewed him as a witness. Rose, that makes sense to me.
Amy Robach
Absolutely. And look, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, she was. She wrote for the Supreme Court in their decision, and I thought it was interesting how she put it. She said, had the prosecutors corrected Sneed's false testimony, his credibility absolutely would have suffered. And this is what she wrote. That correction would have revealed to the jury not just that Sneed was untrustworthy, but also that Sneed was willing to lie to them under oath.
TJ Holmes
That makes sense. And you know who dissented? Clarence Thomas. Clarence Thomas dissented in this. And his argument was, it didn't. It wasn't material to the case itself. He said even if they had known all this stuff, it wouldn't have necessarily changed the outcome or change how they viewed this guy. Okay, fine. But Robes, the guy got up there. It didn't sound like, why is it that he was bipolar, have anything to do with him, whether or not he's recounting the story accurately about the murder. Well, Robes, if you're willing to lie to me on oath about the most
Amy Robach
basic, to make yourself look better, and
TJ Holmes
they said they were billing him as a. As a choir boy, almost. The prosecution was saying, oh, he was just a sweet kid, didn't have violent tendencies, and he would never have done this had it not been for Mr. Gloss.
Amy Robach
Wow. It's also of note, I think, just given all of that, that the whole reason why Glossip's case ended up the Supreme Court was because of the Oklahoma Attorney General. He said in 2023 that he was going through boxes of new evidence and it basically persuaded him that Glossip was not given a fair trial. Now, he doesn't necessarily believe Glossip is innocent. He's not saying that, but he did believe that he deserved a new trial. So Oklahoma Attorney General to make that statement, that is significant. And so he asked SCOTUS to stop Glossip's execution.
TJ Holmes
They stopped the execution. And Rose, we do a lot of these cases and executions in the country. You gotta have a fair trial. I mean, this is no matter what, you gotta have a fair trial. So he's still in. He's out of prison still.
Amy Robach
Correct. He's living with his wife. He's got a bunch of stipulations. He has an electronic monitor, he has a curfew, he can't go out at night. Night. A lot of monitoring going on. But yes, he is free until trial, which is huge.
TJ Holmes
But yesterday was huge in that it was possible this could have been over.
Amy Robach
Yes.
TJ Holmes
Yeah. The judge goes in, not enough evidence here or have the preliminary hearing or he said, now we're just going to go forward. So that's significant. But Rome September, this is going to be huge. Now this has been 30 years. Will we finally get an answer and he will finally learn his fate?
Amy Robach
Ultimately, yes, because Justin Sneed is going to go back up on that witness stand and testify once. This is certainly going to be significant. And so, yes, he will have a third time in court fighting for his life. But when we come back, we're going to tell you about the three times Glossip was nearly executed, including the time that it led to a seven year moratorium on executions in the state of Oklahoma. If you're always on the lookout for a great audiobook or just want help figuring out what to listen to next, there's a podcast you should know about.
TJ Holmes
It's called earsay, the Audible and I Heart Audiobook Club. Hosted by Kal Penn.
Amy Robach
Each episode takes a closer look at some of the most talked about new audiobooks on Audible, spanning a wide range of genres, from sci fi and literary fiction to rom coms, thrillers and comedy.
TJ Holmes
Kyle is joined by guests who dig into what these stories are about, what makes them stand out as audiobook, and why they're connecting with listeners right now.
Amy Robach
If you're looking for your next listen, this is a great place to start.
TJ Holmes
Listen to Hearsay, the Audible and Iheart Audiobook club. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Amy Robach
Welcome back everyone, to this episode of Amy and tj. We are talking about a former Oklahoma death row inmate. His name is Richard Glossip. He is now heading to a third trial. The death penalty has been taken off the table, but he still will be fighting for his life. He has maintained his innocence from the very beginning in the baseball bat beating death of his his motel boss. He wasn't the one. He'd never been accused of actually physically committing the killing, but he is and had been convicted of being the mastermind of inciting another employee to do it at his bidding. But he has maintained that never was the case. And while he may be now out on bond, thanks to Kim Kardashian, he spent nearly 30 years on death row and he had nine different execution dates. He had three separate last meals.
TJ Holmes
Just imagine that that's you're eating that food thinking you're not. You're going to die. I mean, this robe, that's. That's intense. And you know, we talk about cruel and unusual. That is.
Amy Robach
Yes.
TJ Holmes
You shouldn't put a. I don't care what. Just, we got to be better than that. That's robe. That is inhumane. That is awful.
Amy Robach
Not once, not twice awful, but three times. And the third, this one gives me chills to imagine this. The third time he came so close to dying. He was actually being held in this cell next to the death chamber. So that's how close this was in 2015. He's literally moments away from being strapped to the gurney for lethal injection. He's sitting there waiting. But meantime, behind the other wall, prison officials are literally scrambling because they found out that one of the drugs in this lethal cocktail that they put together in the state of Oklah didn't match the protocols that were in place for the state. So they were trying to figure out how they could remedy it. There was basically a mix up in the drugs in the cocktail.
TJ Holmes
He was saved by incompetence.
Amy Robach
He was actually saved by incompetence. But that drug mixup that caused so much confusion and as you pointed out, pain and suffering that led to a seven year moratorium on executions in Oklahoma. You hear about this happening in many different states. They had so many different botch lethal injections situations that a lot of states, a lot of governors said, hey, we're going to put a stop to this and we're going to try to figure out a better way to execute people, a more humane way, a way where we're not going to constantly run into problems. Yeah. For seven years they did not execute anyone in Oklahoma because of his nearly Botched execution in 2015.
TJ Holmes
Ropes. His life is being saved. He. He got a seven year old, right? He got a seven year. Seven years for him. Extra seven years. This is one of those stories, Robes. If this guy ends up off death row, if he goes to this trial and he is found not guilty, man, I might be on board with anybody who wants to say we should get rid of the death penalty in this country. That Robes, we got that close to killing out. We've covered other stories of guys whose executions have been stopped and gotten close and they end up being innocent. We can't accidentally kill an innocent guy. Like that's got to. However we need to do that, we can not do that.
Amy Robach
Yeah. And you know, just to see him yesterday, I saw the pictures. There were no cameras in the courtroom. But of course, this is a Massively high profile case in the state of Oklahoma. So lots of reporters there on the scene. But just to see him in in plain clothes with his wife holding her hand walking out of court back to their home. It's just a remarkable scene to witness. And you? I am. I wonder. Yes. The attorney general stepped in. Yes. Kim Kardashian stepped up. Richard Branson stepped up. There are a lot of groups that have stepped up on his behalf because they do believe in his innocence. But if it weren't for all of those people and some just happenstance situations where they weren't able to carry out the execution that was set to happen, it's a miracle this man is alive and free technically right now today.
TJ Holmes
And you know, it should be okay. We this we've gotten. This should be noted that yes, the guy who testified. That's the only direct evidence. Sure. And that's a questionable witness. Sure. There were other circumstantial things that went on. It wasn't just that guy. Don't get me wrong. That's the strongest evidence. But gossip. They have evidence he lied to police initially in the conversations about what he knew about the murder. True. He lied when he and didn't tell them till later that that Sneed had confessed to him. Even he helped sneak clean up after the murder as well. So stuff pieced together. He wasn't necessary. It just didn't come out of nowhere. And we're just depending on one bipolar guy.
Amy Robach
That's true. He wasn't just some random innocent bystander. He certainly. And he was initially charged with accessory after the fact. And that that seems like that was absolutely an appropriate charge given what we know about the situation. But it is very likely that he might have just been afraid of getting swept up into it or a part of it or who knows. Or he could have actually been the mastermin. We don't know. Two juries thought he was the master man mind and convicted him. But it was almost solely based on the testimony of Sneed.
TJ Holmes
I'm fascinated to see because in the evidence they found these new boxes there were some notes that said that Sneed might have wanted to recant his testimony at some point. Ropes.
Kal Penn
This is crazy.
TJ Holmes
You got eight, nine boxes that you failed to hand over decades ago.
Amy Robach
And I do appreciate that the Attorney general had a moral compass look. And they're supposed to. But forgive me if sometimes we get a little jaded in how we view some folks who are supposed to be there to uphold the law. But it is nice to hear and see a moment where an attorney general who knew that this would not look good, so to speak, for the Oklahoma justice system to admit that this took place. But that actually is what makes the Oklahoma justice system look good now that he was willing to be transparent about it and actually get us to this day where now we can maybe perhaps figure out where the truth lies.
TJ Holmes
I think they all still look bad. This is crazy. Rope you withholding evidence. You got a witness you know is lying. You don't correct. That's. That's. Now that is criminal.
Amy Robach
That is criminal. That is. And we'll see what happens with this. But we will certainly be following this story of Richard Glossip. In the meantime, though, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
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TJ Holmes
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Kal Penn
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Amy Robach
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Original Air Date: June 24, 2026
Hosts: Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes
This episode delves into the extraordinary story of Richard Glossip, a 63-year-old former Oklahoma death row inmate whose case has spanned nearly three decades and propelled national discussions about America’s death penalty system. Glossip’s conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2025, leading to his release on bond. With his third trial now scheduled and the death penalty off the table, Amy and T.J. explore the legal twists, last-minute execution halts, high-profile advocacy, and broader implications at play in this ongoing legal saga.
| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:28 | Introduction to Richard Glossip’s saga and the episode’s purpose | | 04:03 | Glossip’s nine execution dates and the toll on his life | | 06:38 | Legal errors, prosecutorial misconduct, and trial history | | 07:42 | The 1997 killing, Justin Sneed’s testimony, and its impact | | 09:51 | Supreme Court decision reasoning (Justice Sotomayor’s quote) | | 11:11 | Oklahoma Attorney General’s intervention and new trial request | | 12:07 | Glossip's current release conditions | | 15:39 | Recap: Glossip’s nine execution dates and three last meals | | 16:51 | The 2015 drug mix-up and moratorium on executions | | 18:24 | Hosts reflect on broader questions about the death penalty | | 19:03 | Glossip’s experience in court and the significance of high-profile support | | 21:03 | Possible recantation by Sneed and new evidence found |
Amy and TJ provide a compelling, human-focused look at the Richard Glossip case, revealing critical flaws in the U.S. death penalty system. The episode balances legal detail, personal narrative, and pointed debate, highlighting the consequences of mistaken convictions. The story is still unfolding—Glossip’s fate, and perhaps the broader debate on capital punishment, hinges on the upcoming third trial.