Richard Glossip pleads guilty to accessory charge in Van Treese killing

Richard Glossip, formerly on death row in Oklahoma, pleaded guilty Thursday to being an accessory in a killing from 1997; prosecutors dismissed the first-degree murder charge he had faced.

The charge, accessory to first-degree murder after the fact, concerns the killing of motel owner Barry Van Treese. In Oklahoma County, Glossip entered his plea as part of an agreement with state prosecutors, who withdrew the murder charge at the hearing. He has maintained his innocence for almost 30 years.

Judge Natalie Mai is scheduled to sentence Glossip in December, after both sides argue for either prison or release. Attorney General Gentner Drummond's office and the Van Treese family want Mai to impose the maximum 45-year sentence.

Drummond said in a statement that the agreement was "a difficult decision for me and, more importantly, the Van Treese family." But he said "this path ensures a conviction related to Mr. Van Treese's murder and gives us the best chance to secure additional prison time for Glossip."

Defense says plea puts case to rest

Don Knight, Glossip's attorney, said his client entered the guilty plea to put the case to rest. Knight said Glossip could go free at sentencing or return to prison for another 15 years, according to The Associated Press.

Knight said Glossip would have been freed a decade ago if prosecutors had secured an accessory conviction originally, according to NBC News. "We look forward to an opportunity to show why returning him to custody would not serve the interests of justice, and to ending this nightmare for Rich and all concerned," he said.

It was not immediately known how any sentence would account for the time Glossip has spent in prison.

"We believe Rich has more than paid his debt to society by spending nearly 30 years on death row, during which time he was served three last meals and came within minutes of being executed for a crime he did not commit," Knight said.

Knight said the plea acknowledged prosecutors' allegations that Glossip helped cover a broken window with plexiglass, saw Van Treese's body and did not tell police that Justin Sneed had killed him. Knight previously said Glossip "had nothing to do with the murder, none of the planning, or carrying it out."

Case history

Glossip's former boss Van Treese was killed on Jan. 7, 1997, at the motel he owned in Oklahoma City. Prosecutors have alleged that Van Treese was beaten with a baseball bat in a murder-for-hire scheme.

Sneed, a handyman, admitted robbing and killing Van Treese, and testified that Glossip had promised him $10,000 for the killing. Sneed was 19 at the time and avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against Glossip. He received a life sentence.

Oklahoma courts scheduled nine execution dates for Glossip.

In 2015, Glossip waited in a cell beside the execution chamber, but the execution did not go ahead. Prison officials had learned that a drug supplied to them did not match the execution protocol.

On Feb. 25, 2025, the Supreme Court overturned Glossip's conviction and death sentence, ruling that he deserved a new trial because prosecutors had failed to correct false testimony during the original proceedings. Van Treese's family had urged the court to uphold the conviction and sentence. Drummond agreed with the ruling, saying then that it was "an undeniable fact that he did not receive a fair trial."

On June 9, Drummond announced that Oklahoma would try Glossip again on a first-degree murder charge, though it would not seek the death penalty.

Glossip was released on bond on May 14 after a judge ruled that the court could not deny him bail. The order partly relied on Drummond's 2023 letter acknowledging that the evidence fell short of proving first-degree murder beyond reasonable doubt.

Glossip will stay free on bond until sentencing, KOSU reported. CNN, in a report carried by KESQ, said the hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17 and 18.