Richard Glossip is a man who was on the brink of execution, not once, but 3 separate times. He was put on death road after being charged with hiring another man to commit the murder of his boss. However, there is no evidence that places him at the scene of the murder and he was solely convicted on the basis of a confession of the actual killer because if you name someone you get a good deal. There was no DNA evidence, but the state of Oklahoma just doesn’t want to admit that they’ve destroyed a life.
To execute someone, the IV team finds a vein and gets the IV in you. It is the guards’ job is to get you in with no problems or hassle. On 4/14/2014 there were two executions scheduled in one day. A man named Clayton Lockett was scheduled to die at 6 pm and Charles Warner would follow, then Glossip was supposed to follow. After they hit Lockett with the drugs that were supposed to stop your heart, he began to writhe on the gurney for a period of 7-9 minutes with physical effort and lifted his head and shoulders off the gurney. It was obvious that Lockett was in a great deal of pain. He was basically being torture. You would hope that the medical personnel on stand by would counteract the effect of the drugs and revive him, but they just waited on him to die of a heart attack. Glossip could hear Lockett screaming. After this incident, the Department of Corrections revised its lethal injection protocols. They improved lighting and sound system and moved Glossip and Warner closer to execution. Their new execution date was set for 1/29/2015. Charles Warner execution completed successfully
When you are about to be executed, they take all your stuff and put you in a cell. You are now Death Watch! There are 4 cells and the 1st person to be executed in the first cell. You are surrounded camera and guards and it is lit 24/7 and you are sitting there waiting for it to happen. Glossip says, “Nobody deserves to be treated this way. I don’t care who you are. I’ve seen people that have lost it. I have people seen that don’t know who they are anymore. You are in a place isolated from people.”
A nun called Sister Helen is trying her hardest to keep Glossip from dying. She called that he was the lead plaintiff that was challenging the controversial use of midazolam and the Supreme Court granted that state. However, on 9/30/15 the US Supreme Court denied stay 8-1 and Glossip was continued to be scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. However, as the injection was happening, a completely absentminded mix up happened. They messed it up again by bringing potassium acetate, a food preservative, instead of midazolam. stay of execution granted by governor Mary Falin.
Glossip explains what happens on your last day. "When you’re going through it and know it is the last day, you come to the realization that it could be it." They give you your last meal, breakfast, which is a donut and some orange juice. They will X-ray you in case you sneak something in to hurt yourself. Then they bring you to LL (last cell you’re in before you’re executed). You're stripped down to boxers and only allowed to boxers until they come to get you before you’re executed. This is the sad reality that a lot of the death row inmates face and they are the last moments of their life.
Richard Glossip is currently still sitting on death row. There are a lot of people who are rooting for him and trying to prove his innocence, like Sister Helen and his family. You can read more at richardglossip.org
It is hard to imagine the life of Richard Glossip after experiencing such mental torture due to his death row sentence. Going through the process of the last meal and nearly being executed is more than any human being should experience. It is phenomenal to witness how greatly our society can be impacted by money and power. Comparing Glossip to OJ Simpson, one can analyze the significance of the two punishments. OJ Simpson was capable of affording the top lawyers with the support of many throughout the United States, which resulted in him being cleared of an obvious crime covered in all sorts of evidence. On the other hand, Glossip was sentenced to death based on someone else's confession as you had stated, with no evidence present. Him and many others are not capable of affording the same defense as OJ Simpson, which results in the death of those that have the potential of being innocent due to a lack in represenation in court.
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