Oklahoma Republican legislator vows to end capital punishment if state kills death row inmate, citing new investigation into case

Prosecutors in Glossip’s case acknowledged another motel employee, then-19-year-old maintenance worker Justin Sneed, physically killed Van Treese with a baseball bat, but they told jurors Sneed did so in a murder-for-hire scheme masterminded by Glossip.

Sneed received a life sentence in a plea deal for his testimony against Glossip, which the new report says was the only evidence tying Glossip to the crime.

“We actually know who the murderer is, and yet somebody is on death row that’s not the murderer,” Perry said.

The first trial against Glossip was overturned because of ineffective defense counsel, and the Reed Smith investigation found prosecutors told police to destroy a box of evidence before the second trial began. “That’s inexcusable,” said Perry.

Rep. McDugle said Wednesday he is a supporter of the death penalty but believes the Glossip case shows weaknesses in the reliability of capital prosecutions.

“If we put Richard Glossip to death, I will fight in this state to abolish the death penalty simply because the process is not pure,” he said.

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office and Connie Smothermon, the original lead prosecutor in the Glossip case, did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment Wednesday. The new report says O’Connor’s office did not respond to the independent investigators’ requests for access to records and evidence in the state’s possession.