In Oklahoma, Governor Mary Fallin has issued a last-minute stay of execution for death row prisoner Richard Glossip, after the prison mixed up the drugs for his lethal injection. Richard Glossip was slated to be executed at 3 p.m. Wednesday. But the execution was called off because instead of having the chemical potassium chloride, which stops the heart, the prison had potassium acetate. Fallin issued a 37-day stay while the state “ensures it is complying fully with the protocols approved by federal courts.” Glossip’s case dates back to 1997, when he was working as a manager at the Best Budget Inn in Oklahoma City when his boss, Barry Van Treese, was murdered. A maintenance worker, Justin Sneed, admitted he beat Van Treese to death with a baseball bat, but claimed Glossip offered him money for the killing. The case rested almost solely on Sneed’s claims. No physical evidence ever tied Glossip to the crime. By pointing the finger at Glossip, Sneed was spared the death penalty. We’ll have more on Glossip’s case with anti-death-penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean later in the show.
