In yesterday's post, I discussed Glossip v. Oklahoma—a case that the Supreme Court will hear next Wednesday about allegations that prosecutors withheld evidence in a death penalty trial. In that post, I reviewed my amicus brief for the murder victim's family, which contains extensive documentation proving that the prosecutors never withheld any evidence. In this second post, I discuss Glossip's and Oklahoma's (non)responses to the facts that I presented. The parties' failure to respond confirms that their Brady claim is concocted and that they are forcing the victim's family to endure frivolous litigation. Tomorrow, in my third and final post, I will explain why courts should be cautious before accepting an apparently politically motivated confession of "error" from a prosecutor.
In Glossip, the underlying question before the Supreme Court concerns whether state prosecutors withheld evidence from Glossip's defense team before his 2004 trial. In that trial, Glossip was found guilty of commissioning his friend, Justin Sneed, to murder Barry Van Treese. Glossip was sentenced to death. Now, nearly two decades later, Glossip argues that newly released notes from the prosecutors show that they withheld information about Sneed's lithium usage and treatment by a psychiatrist. And, curiously, Oklahoma Attorney General Gertner Drummond agrees. Drummond has joined Glossip in asking the Supreme Court to overturn the conviction and capital sentence.
As I reviewed yesterday, Glossip's and General Drummond's argument rests primarily on four handwritten words in prosecutor Smothermon's notes:
