Oklahoma lawmaker renews push to free death row inmate Richard Glossip
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — With crossover day looming, it's crunch time at the state capitol.
However, Wednesday, Rep. Kevin McDugle wasn't pushing a bill. Instead, he spent the day lobbying alongside Richard Glossip's attorney.
The pair are pleading for more signatures on a letter that was sent to Governor Stitt almost a year ago. The letter, which has already been signed by three dozen lawmakers, claims new evidence confirms the death row inmate's innocence. It also asks for a fresh set of eyes on his case.
"We're going to try and educate other legislators in both the Senate and House on the Richard Glossip story so they can see what I know and hopefully convince more people that we do have someone that's sitting on death row that's innocent," said McDugle.
Currently, the lawyer, lawmaker duo are eagerly awaiting the findings of a private investigation being done for free by a law firm out of Texas. McDugle is also working on new legislation aimed at making it easier to introduce new evidence for death row inmates post-conviction.
"But my concern is that that's going to be too late to help Richard," saidMcDugle.
Pending a federal ruling over Oklahoma's execution protocols, Glossip is next in line for the death penalty.
So with the clock ticketing, they're now traveling door to door talking to other lawmakers about his case.
"If there is another date set, that would be his fourth execution date and we would prefer that he never have to face that again," said Glossip's attorney,Don Knight.
They stress that they're not anti-death penalty. They simply feel this time, the state got it wrong.
"I think we've got a number of people on death row right now that we need to put to death. Their time has come. Richard Glossip is not one of them," said McDugle.
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