After 29 years, nine execution dates and three last meals, former death row inmate Richard Glossip is out on bond Thursday awaiting retrial after his previous conviction in the murder-for-hire plot of his former boss was overturned by the Supreme Court last year, his attorney told CNN.
Glossip, who had just taken his first steps of freedom from an Oklahoma jail, told gathered reporters he was thankful for his wife and his attorneys, adding he is “just really happy.”
“It’s overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time,” he said.
“He was obviously joyous, he was screaming and yelling, and it was quite a day,” attorney Don Knight told CNN’s Jake Tapper of Glossip’s reaction to an Oklahoma District Court judge issuing a $500,000 bail earlier in the day.
Glossip, 63, was convicted in 1998 for his role in the 1997 killing of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese, but the United States Supreme Court tossed his conviction and death sentence in February 2025.
Glossip was previously denied bail as he awaits a retrial.
Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai wrote in the order that “the Court finds it cannot deny bail to Glossip,” based partially on a 2023 letter by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond acknowledging the evidence “does not support that he is guilty of first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“The Court hopes that a new trial, free of error, will provide all interested parties, and the Citizens of Oklahoma, the closure they deserve,” Mai wrote.
Knight told CNN earlier Thursday, “Rich is just thrilled to have the opportunity to have some real life.”
The conditions of Glossip’s bail include wearing a GPS ankle monitor, adhering to a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and not having contact with any potential witnesses or the victim’s family members unless contact is made through their attorneys. He also must remain in the state of Oklahoma, according to court records.
Decadeslong legal battle
The Supreme Court decision to overturn Glossip’s conviction and death sentence last year marked a major turning point in his decades-long legal battle. The court ordered his case be retried in Oklahoma, finding that prosecutors failed to correct false testimony in his 1998 trial that may have influenced the jury.
That false testimony came from Van Treese’s actual killer, Justin Sneed, and had they done so, his credibility would have suffered, undercutting his testimony as the state’s star witness.
Sneed was sentenced to life without parole in exchange for his guilty plea and testimony against Glossip. His testimony was the sole evidence linking Glossip to the murder.
“That correction would have revealed to the jury not just that Sneed was untrustworthy (as amicus points out, the jury already knew he repeatedly lied to the police), but also that Sneed was willing to lie to them under oath,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority.
Oklahoma prosecutors agreed to retry the case in June 2025 but denied his bail at the time.
There will be several obstacles for prosecutors as they work to retry the case, Knight told Tapper, noting since the prosecution, witnesses have died and some of the evidence has been lost or destroyed.
Case stems from 1997 murder-for-hire plot allegation
The case stems from the January 7, 1997, murder of 54-year-old Van Treese. He was beaten to death by Sneed, then 19, court records show. At the time, Sneed was staying in the motel while doing maintenance in exchange for a room. Glossip was the motel manager.
He initially denied knowledge of the killing but eventually admitted Sneed told him about killing Van Treese. Glossip was initially charged with accessory after the fact, but Sneed testified that Glossip asked him to kill Van Treese so he could run the motel himself.
His charge was upgraded to capital murder, and when Glossip refused a deal for a life sentence, insisting on his innocence, prosecutors offered the same deal to Sneed. At trial, Glossip was painted as the mastermind behind the murder-for-hire plot.
After the Supreme Court decision, Knight told CNN Glossip “will now be given the chance to have the fair trial he has always been denied.”
Glossip’s next court date is scheduled for June 23.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to this report.
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