Oklahoma’s Court of Criminal Appeals says Richard Glossip should be executed on May 18.
The court issued an opinion Thursday denying a request to vacate his conviction or a stay in his execution
The denial comes after Oklahoma’s Attorney General said Glossip should not be executed for the 1997 killing of his boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese.
The court said after judges reviewed the case, they “found no credible claims to prevent the carrying out of Glossip’s sentence on the scheduled date.”
Attorney General Gentner Drummond panned the denial and said he would continue efforts to stave off Glossip’s execution after his office released an independent report earlier this month.
"While I respect the Court of Criminal Appeals’ opinion, I am not willing to allow an execution to proceed despite so many doubts,” Drummond said in a statement. “Ensuring the integrity of the death penalty demands complete certainty. I will thoroughly review the ruling and consider what steps should be taken to ensure justice."
Glossip has been on death row for more than two decades. His supporters claim he was condemned largely by bad police work, ineffective defense attorneys, false testimony from the actual murderer and dishonest prosecutors.
His execution has been delayed five times, three times in 2015 by former Gov. Mary Fallin, once last year by Gov. Kevin Stitt and most recently by a Criminal Appeals judge following a request by Drummond's office.
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