As Oklahoma moves to retry Richard Glossip for a third time, the state’s star witness, Justin Sneed, faced questions in court—revealing the fragility of a case that has spanned nearly three decades.
The elevator doors opened at the Oklahoma County District Court on September 30. and Justin Sneed emerged in prison orange. his waist chain and handcuffs clanging against the hallway floor. Escorted by a sheriff’s deputy and his public defender. the 49-year-old moved toward the seventh-floor courtroom of Judge Natalie Mai. He did not respond when reporters shouted, “Why did you kill Barry Van Treese?”.
Inside, the atmosphere was thick with the weight of a case that has defied resolution for 29 years. Sneed. the man who admitted to beating Van Treese to death at his Best Budget Inn in 1997. sat before the jury box with a hollow stare. Just across the room sat Richard Glossip. the 63-year-old man who has spent decades on death row for a murder Sneed committed. but which the state insists Glossip orchestrated.
The September 30 hearing. held 11 years to the day after Glossip narrowly avoided execution due to a state error involving the wrong lethal injection drugs. was meant to address defense motions regarding Sneed’s role. After the U.S. Supreme Court vacated Glossip’s conviction in February 2025. citing false testimony and prosecutorial misconduct. many believed the saga had reached its end. Instead. the state announced plans for a third trial. with prosecutor Jimmy Harmon telling Judge Mai that the evidence would remain essentially the same.
The tension in the room centered on whether the state’s case could withstand scrutiny after decades of unraveling. Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s majority opinion noted that no physical evidence or other witnesses connected Glossip to the crime; the entire prosecution rested on Sneed. Yet. the state’s own internal documents have shown that lead prosecutor Connie Smothermon previously attempted to coach Sneed’s testimony to align with forensic evidence. specifically regarding a knife found at the scene that Sneed initially denied using.
Defense attorney Don Knight has argued that the state is relying on a witness they no longer trust. In an early September filing. the defense urged the court to allow them to question Sneed to prevent a jury from being “deceived about what Sneed remembers versus what he was coached to say.” The state’s deputy chief of the criminal appeals unit. Joshua Lockett. countered in writing that it is “impossible” to disentangle Sneed’s actual memories from what he was coached to say. “Any evidentiary hearing would be unable to disentangle the source of Sneed’s knowledge. ” Lockett noted. implicitly conceding the star witness cannot now reliably recount the night of the murder.
Sneed’s credibility has been further clouded by his own attempts to retract his story. His daughter. O’Ryan Justine Sneed. wrote to the Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole in October 2014 stating her father’s conscience was “getting to him.” Additionally. two handwritten notes recovered from Sneed’s public defender file—one from 2003 asking. “Do I have the choice of re-canting my testimony at any time during my life. or anything like that. ” and another from 2007 expressing a need to “clean up” his past—were suppressed for years.
Judge Mai allowed Sneed to take the stand on September 30. but strictly limited the testimony to whether he had consented to the release of his public defender files. Sneed sat awkwardly, legs spread, and denied consenting to the release. He claimed he only knew about the records being public because he saw it on television. and stated he refused to speak with investigators because he was “actively upset” about the disclosure. The exchange offered no clarity on the murder itself.
With the trial date pushed from September to December 7—and that date appearing increasingly uncertain—the legal battle remains deadlocked. While prosecutors continue to push back against defense attempts to put Sneed on the stand. the defense views the state’s maneuvers as a sign of weakness. As Sneed was led out of the courtroom. he was again met with silence when asked if he had any regrets. leaving the courtroom without answering before the elevator doors closed.
Richard Glossip Justin Sneed Oklahoma court death penalty wrongful conviction legal news