Death Row Inmate Released After 29 Years, 9 Execution Dates and 3 Last Meals

Summary

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Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present

Episode: Death Row Inmate Released After 29 Years, 9 Execution Dates and 3 Last Meals

Date: May 15, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode covers the astonishing case of Richard Glossip, a 63-year-old Oklahoma man released after 29 years on death row, following nine scheduled execution dates and three “last meals.” Amy Robach and TJ Holmes explore the legal missteps, the dubious evidence, and the broader implications for the death penalty, asking pointed questions about justice and wrongful convictions. The story is ongoing, with Glossip free on bond as he awaits a third trial.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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The Long Ordeal: 29 Years on Death Row

• Richard Glossip’s Release: Freed on a $500,000 bond after decades of legal limbo and failed executions (02:52).

  • "There was cheering, there was crying, tears of joy. My God. Nearly three decades behind bars waiting to die. And he came close multiple times, a bunch of times." — Amy Robach (02:52)

• Nine Execution Dates, Three Last Meals:

  • Glossip survived multiple near-death experiences, including being just hours from execution due to a last-minute error with lethal injection drugs (17:01).
  • "On September 30, 2015, he came three hours from his scheduled execution. A doctor realized that a pharmacist supplied the wrong drug for the lethal injection." — Amy Robach (16:54)
  • “The only reason this dude is alive is because they screwed up the drugs.” — TJ Holmes (18:01)

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What Was He Accused Of?

• Not the Killer: Glossip was never accused of personally killing anyone. The case was a “murder for hire” scenario (04:33).

  • “He is on death row but he is not—was never accused of killing anybody with his own hand… This is a murder for hire situation.” — TJ Holmes (04:33)

• The Crime:

  • Victim: Barry Van Treese, an Oklahoma City motel owner, murdered in 1997.
  • Actual Killer: Justin Sneed, then 19, the motel’s maintenance man, who confessed to the killing and testified it was at Glossip’s request, alleging a $10,000 offer and motive to cover up embezzlement (07:26).
  • “Sneed testified the Glossip asked him to kill Van Treese, to run the motel himself, and offered him $10,000.” — Amy Robach (11:12)

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The Trials and Legal Errors

• Convicted Twice, Facing Third Trial:

  • Convicted in 1998, for a crime that happened in 1997.
  • First conviction overturned due to ineffective assistance of counsel. Second conviction later thrown out after the Supreme Court found significant evidentiary issues (09:09, 18:09).

• Dubious Testimony:

  • Prosecution relied entirely on Sneed’s word; prosecutors failed to inform the jury that Sneed had lied under oath (09:09–09:43).
    • “Prosecutors knew that Justin Sneed was giving false testimony... did not reveal or convey that to jurors.” — Amy Robach (09:09)
    • “That correction of the testimony would have revealed to the jury not just that Sneed was untrustworthy, but also that Sneed was willing to lie to them under oath.” — Amy Robach, quoting Justice Sotomayor (09:43)
  • No physical evidence tying Glossip to the murder; Sneed’s testimony was the only link (09:43).
    • “The evidence connecting Glossip to the crime was this guy and this guy’s word alone.” — TJ Holmes (08:45)

• Supreme Court Intervention:

  • The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Glossip’s conviction and death sentence in February 2025, yet he remained behind bars until a judge granted bail, referencing a letter from the Oklahoma Attorney General admitting the evidence did not support guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (04:51–06:27).
    • “The court finds it cannot deny bail to Glossip based on a letter… acknowledging that… the evidence… does not support that he is guilty of first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.” — Amy Robach (05:21)

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Systemic Problems and the Death Penalty Debate

• Death Penalty Critique:

  • The case is presented as a prime example of why the death penalty is dangerous and error-prone.
    • “This is an argument for why we should get rid of the death penalty… We got so close to getting this wrong.” — TJ Holmes (05:56)
    • “The only reason this dude is alive is because they screwed up the drugs. Not because, oops, Supreme Court stepped in. Not because, oops, we think he might be innocent.” — TJ Holmes (18:01)
  • Even decades of delays do not prevent mistakes: “We wait 40 years to execute somebody just to make sure. Well, we waited 30 years and we got this one wrong.” — TJ Holmes (17:14)

• Public & Celebrity Outcry:

  • Glossip’s case gained national and international attention, with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Susan Sarandon, and Dr. Phil publicly supporting him (04:04).

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The Path Forward: What’s Next for Glossip

• Pending Third Trial:

  • Glossip is freed but remains under GPS ankle monitoring and strict restrictions (curfew, no contact with involved parties) as he awaits his third trial, with the next court date set for June 23 (06:27, 18:09).
  • “The trial date has not been set. He does have a court date. His next court date is June 23rd.” — Amy Robach (18:09)
  • Oklahoma prosecutors maintain they have “strong evidence,” but their main witness—Sneed—will again testify, despite his reliability being demolished in prior appeals (18:09).

• The Emotional and Human Cost:

  • “Can you imagine just the… mental aspect of that?” — Amy Robach, on Glossip’s imminent executions (17:01)
  • “You might need to pay him for pain and suffering at this point for what you put… That’s mental anguish.” — TJ Holmes (17:14)
  • “If Glossip is in fact innocent. He has lost, Pam, 29 years of his life.” — Amy Robach (12:48)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is a scary, scary story… we almost killed an innocent man.” — TJ Holmes (07:01)
• “This is fascinating, and you can see how it happened.” — Amy Robach (10:44)
• “If you’re going to send somebody to death… you have to have a perfect trial—Robes, as close to it as possible.” — TJ Holmes (12:02)
• “If he had been executed, then we wouldn’t even be talking about this.” — Amy Robach (18:09)
• “He is a free man with an ankle monitor…” — Amy Robach (18:09)

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Timeline of Key Events

• 1997 – Murder of Barry Van Treese.
• 1998 – Glossip first convicted (conviction later overturned).
• 2000s – Second trial, again convicted and sentenced to death.
• 2015 – Came within 3 hours of execution; lethal injection stopped due to wrong drugs (16:54).
• 2023–2025 – Oklahoma Attorney General concedes weak evidence; Supreme Court overturns conviction (05:21, 06:27).
• May 2026 – Glossip released on bond after 29 years (02:52).
• June 23, 2026 – Next court hearing (18:09).

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Conclusion & Tone

The episode is somber, urgent, and incredulous. Amy and TJ express outrage and disbelief at the justice system’s failures, the reliance on untrustworthy witnesses, and the extraordinary risks of the death penalty. They emphasize that Glossip’s story is ongoing and urge listeners to consider the human and societal cost of wrongful convictions, especially when the ultimate punishment is at stake.

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Transcript

[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]

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[TJ Holmes]

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[Robert Smigel]

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[Robert Smigel]

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[TJ Holmes]

Before we had AT&T business Wireless coverage. Our delivery GPS wasn't the most reliable. Once our driver had to do a 14 point turn to get back on route. A 14 point turn. An influencer even livestreamed the whole thing. Not good for business. Now with AT&T business, wireless routes are updating on the fly and deliveries are on time. And the influencer did get us 53 new followers though at&t business Wireless connecting changes everything. Hey There folks. It is Friday, May 15th and he had nine different execution dates. He was served three last meals. But yesterday he walked out of prison. Welcome to this what in the world episode of Amy and TJ that's just to hear that what what it is

[Amy Robach]

a remarkable story that is so far from over but 29 years in the making. We're talking about 63 year old Richard Glossip. He was freed from an Oklahoma jail on Thursday on a $500,000 bond to much fanfare. There was cheering, there was crying, tears of joy. My God. Nearly three decades behind bars waiting to die. And he came close multiple times, a bunch of times.

[TJ Holmes]

We're going to get into some of these instances but we are not overstating that. He did have execution dates set nine different times. He did have a last meal several times. We'll get into how close he came on one of those occasions Robes to being executed. But he is breathing free air today. The this story and robe. We watch a lot of trials and this is why we see judges take attorneys to task for mistakes they make. Anything that could lead to a possible mistrial or bring this into question. And robes to think that mistake like this is unconscionable, that this should be allowed. And somebody was on death row this long based on something robes it sounds like was easily fixable in the moment.

[Amy Robach]

Look, this even sounds like prosecutorial misconduct is what it sounds like. And look, this case, Glossip's case has garnered international attention. If his name name sounds familiar at all or his case sounds familiar at all, it may be because Kim Kardashian has been on X talking about this case for years now. Susan Sarandon, Dr. Phil. You got celebrities surrounding this man proclaiming his innocence and frustrated that they couldn't get anyone to do anything about it

[TJ Holmes]

until now and what's being done now. And it we should make clear he is on death row but he is not was never accused of killing anybody with his own hand is what we are talking about. This is a murder for hire situation.

[Amy Robach]

Yes, he was accused and convicted twice of being the mastermind in the brutal beating death of his boss where he worked at a motel there in Oklahoma. And it was actually in 2025, so it was last year. The Supreme Court throughout that conviction. But he still had to remain behind bars. They would not let him out on bail until yesterday where a judge said the court finds it cannot deny bail to Glossip based on a letter they found from 2023 written and signed by the Oklahoma attorney General acknowledging that the evidence that was presented against him. Now, now that they understand the full scope of it, quote, does not support that he is guilty of first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. So the judge said, if you actually are acknowledging that, how can you possibly justify keeping him behind bars while he awaits this third trial? And so he ordered bond to be set.

[TJ Holmes]

This, this is a, this is an argument for why we should get rid of the death penalty. This, this man got that close to death. This, mistakes get made and maybe even well meaning people. But oftentimes we see sometimes, Robes, they're not well meaning. This is a very good argument. We got so close to getting this wrong. Now, is this man innocent? That don't know. I do not know that. But according to the courts right now, Robes, he is. Because the conviction was actually thrown out.

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[Amy Robach]

The Supreme Court of the United States tossed out his conviction and his death sentence in February of 2025. And look, I don't know how the system works, But June of 2025, another judge said, yep, you still can't get out. I mean, it's crazy. And now finally, he was released yesterday. He has a GPS ankle monitor. He has a 10pm to 7am curfew. He can't have any contact with any potential witnesses, the victim's family members, but he is free for the first time in three decades.

[TJ Holmes]

They say they're going to retry him. Robes. I guess they are. I guess they will. But this is. Robes. This is a scary, scary story. We, we've heard some of exonerations before, but, but to hear how many times they tried and how close they got to killing him to now, to a point where, Rob, we can say we're leaning more in the direction of that we almost killed an innocent man.

[Amy Robach]

Yeah. I mean, that is very much where a lot of people stand and it could be proven to be true. He was convicted in 1998. Get your head around that. For the 1997 murder of his former boss, an Oklahoma City motel owner. His boss's name was Barry Van Treece and Van Treese's actual killer and admitted killer. His name is Justin Snead. He was, was 19 years old at the time. And what he basically did is he walked into a room at the motel, room 102, and beat Van Tre to death with a baseball bat. Justin Sneed was on the property. He was basically given a motel room in exchange for being the maintenance man at this motel chain. So that's the connection. And we have Richard Glossip was the motel manager. So the allegation and his conviction was that Glossip, according. The motive, according to prosecutors, and I guess according to Justin Sneed himself, was that he had been embezzling funds, didn't want to get fired, and so he asked. He asked me to kill his boss so that he could become the motel manager and not get caught for embezzlement.

[TJ Holmes]

That's a hell of a motive. Didn't see all that evidence at trial and don't know what records they have financially and whatever else. But from all intents and purposes, and by all accounts, Robes, that we can see overwhelmingly, the. The evidence connecting Gloss up to the crime was this guy and this guy's word alone.

[Amy Robach]

Correct. And here is the deal. Prosecutors knew that Justin Sneed was giving false testimony, at least in part of his testimony, did not reveal or convey that to jurors who didn't get to take that into consideration when they heard Justin Sneed testify against his, I guess, co worker, so to speak. Or I guess his boss as well, too. So this is what Justin Justice Sotomayor wrote for the reason why they allowed him now to get out on bond and to overturn the conviction. That correction of the testimony would have revealed to the jury not just that Sneed was untrustworthy, but also that Sneed was willing to lie to them under oath. And with that in mind, they had to throw out the conviction. And that makes sense because according to everyone, Justin Sneed, his testimony against Glossip is the only actual evidence against Glossip. So if you can't trust his testimony, it will be interesting to see what the prosecution will be able to present to the jury this time around.

[TJ Holmes]

Have the option. They didn't have the context. The jury didn't have it. And they could have made a different decision. They could have thought, okay, yeah, he lied about that other stuff, but I believe him on this. Sure, maybe they could have, but they didn't get that option. And because of that, this guy should get another trial. And ropes. Oh, man, that's. That's. That's a travesty. And. And as we sit here, he's innocent. So I. I don't know, Robes. This is terrifying stuff.

[Amy Robach]

Yeah.

[TJ Holmes]

About our justice system. It is scary.

[Amy Robach]

And when we. I'm gonna go through how this all happened. It's fascinating. And you can see how it happened. So the murder happens January 7, 1997. Again, Sneed staying at the motel as a maintenance worker. Glossip is the motel manager. We have the owner, Barry Van Treese, beaten to death with a Baseball bat. And Glossip initially denied knowing about the killing, but then later to police admitted that he knew because Sneed told him he killed him. Right. So Glossip is initially just charged with accessory after the fact. So that's the only charge against him. Sneed's charged with the murder, Glossip gets accessory after the fact. But then Sneed testified the Glossip asked him to kill Van Treese, to run the motel himself, and offered him $10,000. And so then police went to him or investigators, prosecutors went to Glossip and said, hey, we know that you actually were the mastermind, so if you just plead guilty, we'll give you a life sentence. He said, no, I'm not going to do it. I'm innocent. Prosecutors then offered Sneed, hey, if you'll testify, we'll offer you life in prison and we won't pursue the death penalty. He took the deal. And so then prosecutors upgraded Glossip's charge to capital murder, painted him as the mastermind, and had Sneed as the star witness.

[TJ Holmes]

That could all be true. But prove it, that's all. Is this every word of that? Their theory of the crime could still be true. This under oath liar could be telling the truth about the one thing. Yes, maybe. But is that enough to convict the guy and put him on death row? I don't know. That's up to a jury to decide. But if the jury, you get an UN man, you have to have a perfect trial. Robes is close to it if you're going to send somebody to death. So again, when we first started, it comes as we talk about it more, the gravity of what this is the exact thing we can never let happen. And we see a walking, talking, breathing example of how close we got screwing this up.

[Amy Robach]

Yeah. And 29 years if, if, if even.

[TJ Holmes]

That is, if Gloss. Yes.

[Amy Robach]

If Glossip is in fact innocent. He has lost, Pam, 29 years of his life. When we come back, we are going to tell you because he has been convicted not once, but twice, and he is facing his third trial, what is in store for him and just how close he came to being executed? Wait until you hear how he was hours away from lethal injection. 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.

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[Amy Robach]

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[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. The worst singer in the group. The worst. Yeah, me. Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge

[TJ Holmes]

donation to the group? To the group, the Yardbirds, Right? That's the name.

[Robert Smigel]

The Harvard Yard. But they're open.

[Amy Robach]

Do you have a name suggestion?

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[Amy Robach]

Humor me.

[Robert Smigel]

I need some jokes to make me seem funny.

[Amy Robach]

Hate cleaning, hate scrubbing, hate dishwashing. Bro, we got you millions of videos about smart cleaning hacks will make your chores feel like a breeze. Download TikTok and check it out. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and tj we are talking about a remarkable, fascinating story out of Oklahoma where a death row inmate, Richard Glossop, he's 63 years old right now, but he has spent three decades behind bars and as we pointed out, has had nine execution dates, three final meals after he was convicted twice for the murder of his boss back in 1997. This is a remarkable story. On September 30, 2015, he came three hours from his scheduled execution. A doctor realized that a pharmacist supplied the wrong drug for the lethal injection. And so they were forced to call off the execution. Again, three hours. He had his final meal. So this happened three times? Not that close, but that's the closest he came. Can you imagine just the. The mental aspect of that?

[TJ Holmes]

No, this guy is. I mean, he's been through it. And I said pay him earlier. I mean, pay him for the wrongful conviction. You might need to pay him for pain and suffering at this point for what you put. That's mental anguish that this guy has gone through. And again, he, at this point, ropes. He is an innocent man. So what we're looking at is I don't know how robes we. I don't know how we can be supportive of this ceremony. We keep going through. We wait 40 years to execute somebody just to make sure. Well, we waited 30 years and we got this one wrong.

[Amy Robach]

Yeah.

[TJ Holmes]

So it. Time doesn't even help. It seems sometimes if this had been waited out to the reason. The only reason this dude is alive is because they screwed up the drugs.

[Amy Robach]

Yes.

[TJ Holmes]

Not because, oops, Supreme Court stepped in. Oops, we think he might be innocent. No, no, no. We just screw ups with the drugs.

[Amy Robach]

Yeah. And by the way, if he had been executed, then we wouldn't even be talking about this. There would be no rallying cry to prove his innocence because no one wants to admit. Certainly not a state or any prosecutor or anyone involved in administering the punishment would want to admit or acknowledge even, or investigate whether or not they got it wrong. There's no incentive. Now, his first trial, by the way, he was convicted, but that conviction was thrown out because of a defense attorney issue, some legal defense attorney issue. So he gets a second trial, he's convicted and sentenced to death for a second time. And by the way, he. Each time we have sneed testifying against Glossip. So this third trial, now, the. The trial date has not been set. He does have a court date. His next court date is June 23rd. And look, the state of Oklahoma is maintaining they have, quote, strong evidence against Glossip. But they do also say Snead, the man in question, the man whose testimony the Supreme Court of the United States and even the attorney general said is not trustworthy, he is going to be testifying against Glossip once again in this third trial. This will certainly be a spectacle to watch, but in the meantime, he's home with a few restrictions, but he is a free man with an ankle monitor. And we will, of course, continue to follow this very much developing story. In the meantime, though, thank you, as always, for listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you soon. This is an I Heart podcast, guaranteed human.