An inmate who has been on death row for the last 25 years for ordering the killing of his boss is 'totally innocent'.
Richard Glossip, 59, was sentenced to death after being convicted twice for ordering the killing of his boss Barry Van Treese - who was the owner of a hotel he worked at.
Glossip instructed Justin Sneed, a handyman, to beat and rob Mr Van Treese in January 1997 after being paid $10,000 (£8k) to follow through with the deal.
After pleading guilty to battering Van Treese to death with a baseball bat in a room at the hotel, Sneed is serving a life-sentence without parole.
He was meant to be put to death by lethal injection at Oklahoma's state prison on September 30, 2015. However, it was called off because the pharmacist had supplied the wrong drug.
In a stunning new report by law firm Reed Smith - produced for the state of Oklahoma - they claim important evidence had been lost or destroyed in Glossip's case.
They also believe a detective had asked leading questions of Sneed in order to implicate Glossip on purpose.
Stan Perry, a lawyer with Reed Smith who did the report for free, said: "Our conclusion is that no reasonable juror, hearing the complete record, and the uncovered facts... would have convicted Richard Glossip of capital murder."
The lawyers claim evidence destroyed in late 1999 or early 2000 include financial records.
This was before Glossip's retrial and after his first convection and death sentence were revoked.
As a result, lawyers claim they could have contradicted the prosecution's argument Glossip wanted to hide his alleged robbery from the hotel where he was manager.
The report said: "This loss or destruction of evidence appears to be so critical to the defence as to cast serious doubt as to the fundamental fairness of the criminal trial against Glossip."
Glossip's lawyer Don Knight said: "In the coming days, Mr Glossip's defence team will file a request for a hearing with the Oklahoma Court of Appeals so this new evidence of innocence can be examined in a court of law."
Republican state representative, Kevin McDugle, from Oklahoma, believes the report shows Glossip is innocent.
He said: "We've got an individual sitting on death row that has been there 25 years, and I believe he's totally innocent."
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater has said he is reviewing the report but previously believed Glossip is guilty after reviewing items of evidence.
He also said in the past he would support a retrial for first-degree murder and seek the death penalty again for Glossip.
