Richard Glossip, who fought a lethal injection drug all the way to the Supreme Court, got another stay of execution on Wednesday.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin delayed his scheduled execution for a murder-for-hire plot until Nov. 6 to give state Department of Corrections attorneys time to review whether potassium acetate, one part of the three-drug cocktail, meets state execution protocols.
It is the second time in as many weeks that the execution has been put on hold.
Glossip was sentenced in 2004 for paying another man in 1997 to murder Barry Von Treese, who was Glossip’s boss at the motel where they both worked. The Supreme Court refused to grant a last-minute plea to halt the execution Wednesday afternoon, and Pope Francis called for mercy.
The pope reportedly wrote to Fallin and the state’s parole board earlier this month asking for Glossip’s sentence to be commuted, according to a report from NBC News. Francis directly referred to his opposition to the death penalty during his address before a joint meeting of Congress last week.
Glossip has fought one of the drugs used in the three-drug lethal injection preparation that was scheduled to be used on him. He and other inmates went before the Supreme Court claiming that including one of the drugs, midalozam, is cruel since it doesn’t relieve pain and actually increases suffering.
The drug, a sedative, was used in the execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhed in pain for 45 minutes before dying, according to reports of the execution.
The justices voted 5-4 in June that midalozam could be used.
The ruling was a victory for states that are having trouble getting execution drugs that include the normal anesthetic sodium thiopental. Companies that make the drug have largely stopped providing it to states for executions, as have compounding pharmacies.
His execution was originally slated for two weeks ago, but was delayed by the Oklahoma Court of Appeals to review new evidence that Glossip may be innocent.
Glossip was sentenced in 2004 to death for paying another man named Justin Sneed $4,000 to murder Von Treese, who was planning to confront Glossip about embezzling funds from the motel, according to court filings.
His attorneys argued that the testimony of Sneed, who committed the murder, was not reliable. The latest appeal presented new evidence such as an expert opinion that questions the way the police interrogated Sneed, now serving a life sentence.
Glossip’s attorneys also argued that his original defense attorneys did not perform an adequate job.
But the appeals court said the “new” evidence wasn’t that new, and that it merely expanded on theories raised in the direct appeal that were denied.
