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Bombshell New Evidence Emerges in Oklahoma Murder Case Amid Fears Innocent Man May Be Executed

A handwritten letter could undermine crucial evidence used in the capital conviction of Richard Glossip.

With his execution just six weeks away, Richard Glossip’s murder conviction has been called into question by the emergence of explosive new evidence. Glossip was sentenced to die at his second capital trial in 2004 over the brutal killing of Barry Van Treese. Although Glossip didn’t carry out the lethal bludgeoning, the self-confessed man who did, Justin Sneed, claimed Glossip had instructed him to commit the crime for a $10,000 payment. Sneed was given life without parole while Glossip—whose conviction was based on Sneed’s testimony—was sentenced to death. Now a handwritten letter written by Sneed to his defense lawyer in 2007 has rocked the case. “There are a lot of things right now that are eating at me,” Sneed told his attorney in the letter, adding: “Somethings I need to clean up.” Oklahoma lawmakers are now asking the state’s attorney general to hold a special hearing to examine the new evidence, fearing that a failure to do so could send an innocent man to his death.