Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip married for the second time since he’s been in prison, this time to an anti-death penalty advocate.
Lea Rodger, 32, a paralegal, has spent years of her career pushing for the end of capital punishment and, in the process, she met and fell in love with Glossip, 59, who was sentenced to death for orchestrating the 1997 killing of Barry Van Treese, the Associated Press reported.
Glossip has been serving his sentence at Oklahoma State Penitentiary and has had his execution delayed three times. Most recently, in 2015, Glossip’s execution was called off at the last minute by former Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin after hearing the state had received the wrong drug for a lethal injection.
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Rodger told the outlet they started talking after she added Glossip to a list of prisoners she sends yearly Christmas cards to. From there, they began personal correspondence.
“We had that instant comfort with each other, like you’ve known someone your whole life,” she said.
Glossip, whose case has garnered international attention, was previously married in 2018 and subsequently divorced in 2021.
Fearing that a fourth execution attempt could be impending, Rodger didn’t want to waste any time marrying Glossip, the outlet reported. In October, Oklahoma resumed executions after a six-year moratorium stemming from a series of botched lethal injections.
“This isn’t about attention,” Rodger told the outlet. “I’m a very private person. It just happens to be the circumstances that we’re in. I believe the attention should be focused on his innocence. He has already lost 25 years of his life.”
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Glossip has maintained his innocence, arguing he was wrongfully convicted. He has also made several attempts to appeal his sentence to no avail.
Prosecutors in the case say Justin Sneed robbed and beat Van Treese, owner of a motel where Glossip worked, after being promised $10,000 by Glossip, according to the outlet. Sneed is serving a life sentence without parole for his role in the death.
In February, a group of five Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma announced that a law firm based out of Houston would reinvestigate Glossip’s case, according to KFOR.
Glossip is also the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that argues the state’s lethal injection method is unconstitutional.
