A divided Oklahoma panel declined on Wednesday to recommend clemency for Richard Glossip, a death row prisoner whose case has been taken on by a diverse range of supporters, including state lawmakers, Kim Kardashian and the Republican state attorney general, who argued that it would be “a grave injustice” to put him to death.
Mr. Glossip, 60, was convicted of arranging the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese, who owned a motel in Oklahoma City where Mr. Glossip worked as manager. But Mr. Glossip’s lawyers and supporters have argued that the motel handyman who carried out the killing, Justin Sneed, had acted alone.
State lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said Mr. Glossip should be spared, with one Republican death penalty supporter saying he would vote to outlaw executions in the state if Mr. Glossip was put to death.
Gentner Drummond, the state attorney general, told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that though he believed Mr. Glossip most likely arranged the murder, the evidence was not strong enough to warrant a conviction, let alone a death sentence.
“I believe it would be a grave injustice to allow the execution of a man whose trial was plagued by many errors,” Mr. Drummond said. He said he was not aware of any previous attorney general in the state ever supporting a reprieve for a death row prisoner.
The Parole Board was split 2-2 on whether to recommend clemency, with a fifth member recusing himself, meaning that Mr. Glossip’s execution — scheduled for May 18 — can proceed.
Family members of Mr. Van Treese said at the hearing that they felt that the process had been one-sided, with a niece saying that Mr. Glossip was a “habitual liar” who had managed to attract attention from high-profile supporters. Earlier this week, Ms. Kardashian asked her 75 million Twitter followers to call the Pardon Board and urge its members to spare Mr. Glossip.
The Van Treese family said they did not want an innocent man to be executed but felt Mr. Glossip was responsible for the killing.
In a statement after the vote, a lawyer for Mr. Glossip, Don Knight, said his legal team would continue to seek a reprieve in court and called on Gov. Kevin Stitt to reverse the death sentence.
“The execution of an innocent man would be an irreversible injustice,” Mr. Knight said, adding: “If the jury had known what we know now, they never would have convicted Mr. Glossip.”
At trial, Mr. Sneed testified that Mr. Glossip had directed him to kill the victim and had promised to pay him thousands of dollars. That was the backbone of the case, but a pair of recent investigations cast doubt on the claim.
Mr. Glossip’s advocates say that Mr. Sneed had acted alone in killing Mr. Van Treese and had done so in order to rob him of money that Mr. Sneed and his girlfriend planned to use to buy drugs.
