'Exposed as a liar': Supreme Court weighs key witness testimony that underpins Oklahoma death row inmate's conviction

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday probed whether death row inmate Richard Glossip's murder conviction should be thrown out because a key witness lied in court and prosecutors withheld information about him.

As Justice Elena Kagan put it, the state’s most important witness, Justin Sneed, was “exposed as a liar.”

It is an unusual death penalty case in which the attorney general of Oklahoma, Republican Gentner Drummond, has sided with a defendant.

Based on almost two hours of oral argument, it appeared the court could rule in Glossip's favor, although it could stop short of tossing out the conviction and instead order a new hearing on recently disclosed information about the conduct of prosecutors.

Glossip, who is now 61, was convicted of arranging for the murder in 1997 of his boss at the Oklahoma City motel where they worked.

But his conviction rested largely on the testimony of Sneed, who carried out the 1997 murder. Sneed, who pleaded guilty and avoided a death sentence, testified that Glossip had hired him to kill motel owner Barry Van Treese.

Drummond made the rare decision to back Glossip’s appeal following an investigation into the case. The state has stopped short of agreeing with Glossip’s claim that he is innocent.

The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority that generally backs the death penalty but occasionally steps in when there has been a clear miscarriage of justice.

The latest case focuses on claims that prosecutors had withheld information about Sneed and that he had given false testimony at trial.

During oral arguments, the justices debated the significance to the case of prosecutors knowing but not disclosing at Glossip’s second trial in 2004 that Sneed had been diagnosed with bipolar