"Lawyers battling to prevent execution of death row
inmate Richard E. Glossip want to block what they call attempts to
stymie “innocence witnesses” – individuals who have submitted affidavits
raising questions about evidence in the 1997 murder of Barry Van
Treese. Attorneys Don Knight, Kathleen Lord and Mark Olive, with the
assistance of city lawyer Mark Henricksen, filed a brief in Oklahoma
District Court asking “assistance in ensuring that existing innocence
witnesses are not intimidated by the State and that additional innocence
witnesses not be suppressed and/or intimidated from coming forward by
the State.” Their most significant assertion in the court document is that Rogers
County deputies placed Michael Scott, whose affidavit has raised
questions about the veracity of Justin Sneed, the admitted killer of Van
Treese, under arrest on Wednesday so that then, at the Rogers County
jail, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater and another man
could question Scott about his affidavit. That document is being used in
the Glossip case appeal now pending with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal
Appeals. The filing from Glossip’s lawyers also reported that a warrant had
been issued for the arrest of Joe Tapley, another innocence witness. Glossip, convicted of master-minding Van Treese’s murder by Sneed,
has consistently maintained his innocence in the killing for 18 years.
News9, the CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City, reported on the day’s events Wednesday evening, describing Glossip’s attorneys as “livid”
over the actions of law enforcement officials. KOKH Fox 25, where
reporter Phil Cross has documented problems in some of the government’s
evidence, also reported the story Wednesday."........."In related news, Glossip’s lawyers say that existing state protocols should not allow his execution to take place on Sept. 30. That is the date the appeals court had set when it granted Glossip’s attorneys another 14 days to work on the case. Former state Sen. Connie Johnson of Oklahoma City, now OK-CADP chair
said in a comment sent to The City Sentinel that what she called
Wednesday’s “behind the scenes shenanigans and outright breaking of the
law” was informative. “You can’t make this stuff up. It’s straight out
of CSI!”"
http://city-sentinel.com/2015/09/wild-wednesday-all-hell-breaks-loose-in-richard-glossip-investigations/