Supreme Court overturns death sentence, orders new trial for OK inmate

On Feb. 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction and death sentence of Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip, blaming prosecutorial misconduct that likely tainted his 2004 trial.

The latest decision in the case of Glossip v. Oklahoma overturns the conviction of a defendant who has already spent more than two decades on death row and sends the case back for a new trial.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the majority and joined by John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said that the prosecution failed to correct false testimony from the state's key witness, Justin Sneed.

"Because the prosecution violated its constitutional obligations under Napue v. Illinois by knowingly allowing false testimony to go uncorrected, Mr. Glossip is entitled to a new trial," the court declared.

The majority opinion said that Sneed gave false testimony when he indicated he had never seen a psychiatrist.

Prosecutors knew that Sneed had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and been diagnosed lithium but failed to correct the statement during Glossip's trial.

The Supreme Court decided that this omission could have influenced the jury's decision in the case, seeing that Sneed's testimony was the only direct link between Glossip and the 1997 murder of motel owner Barry Van Treese.

What do you think of the Supreme Court's decision?