Former death row inmate granted bond after nearly being executed 3 times

U.S. Former death row inmate Richard Glossip granted bond after nearly being executed 3 times in Oklahoma By Emily Mae Czachor Emily Mae Czachor News Editor Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek. Read Full Bio Emily Mae Czachor May 14, 2026 / 2:33 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google An Oklahoma inmate who was given a new trial after nearly three decades on death row has now been granted bond, laying the groundwork for his first release from prison since 1997.Richard Glossip, 63, was arrested that year in the killing of his former boss, Barry Van Treese. After numerous legal challenges, execution dates and "last meals," Glossip on Thursday was presented with a path out of incarceration. Oklahoma Judge Natalie Mai set Glossip's bond at $500,000 in the new order, which would also require him to wear a monitoring device and bar him from traveling outside of the state, communicating with potential witnesses in his case and consuming alcohol or drugs. The order cited a letter written to Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board in 2023 about Glossip's situation, which acknowledged that the record "does not support that he is guilty of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt."At the time of his death, Van Treese owned the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. He died after being bludgeoned with a baseball bat, court filings show. Another man, Justin Sneed, confessed to physically carrying out the killing but claimed Glossip paid him to do it. Sneed, who received a lifetime prison sentence, was a crucial witness for the prosecution during Glossip's capital murder trial. But the validity of his testimony was called into question in 2022, after the state of Oklahoma found evidence that he may have had a mental illness known to prosecutors that went...