Richard Glossip Released for First Time in Decades

Former Oklahoma death row prisoner Richard Glossip was released from incarceration for the first time in nearly 30 years Thursday after posting bond while awaiting retrial for a 1997 killing that put him on the brink of execution three separate times, the AP reports. Glossip wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and jeans as he walked out of the jail hand-in-hand with his wife, Lea Glossip. "I'm just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful," he said. "It's overwhelming, but it's amazing at the same time." Earlier Thursday, Judge Natalie Mai issued an order setting bond at $500,000. Glossip must wear an electronic monitoring device and will not be allowed to travel outside Oklahoma. He also must not contact any witnesses in the case, or consume any drugs or alcohol.

Last year, the US Supreme Court threw out his conviction, and his longstanding claims of innocence have drawn support from Kim Kardashian, Susan Sarandon, and other prominent figures. Glossip had been sentenced to death over the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, who was beaten with a baseball bat in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme. The Supreme Court ruled last year that prosecutors' decision to allow a key witness to give testimony they knew to be false violated Glossip's constitutional right to a fair trial. Glossip remained behind bars after Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the state would seek to retry him on a murder charge but not pursue the death penalty again.

"The court fully expects that the state will rigorously prosecute its case going forward and the defense will provide robust representation for Glossip," the judge wrote in the order. "The court hopes that a new trial, free of error, will provide all interested parties and the citizens of Oklahoma, the closure they deserve." During his time on death row, courts in Oklahoma set nine different execution dates for Glossip, and he came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals. "Mr. Glossip now has the chance to taste freedom while his defense team continues to pursue justice on his behalf against a system that the United States Supreme Court has found to be guilty of serious misconduct by state prosecutors," his attorney said.