Richard Glossip out on bond after nearly 30 years behind bars

Richard Glossip, who spent nearly three decades behind bars after he was convicted of orchestrating the 1997 murder of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese, walked out of jail at 5:15 p.m. Thursday. Previous coverage: Richard Glossip spent nearly 30 years on death row. Now, he’s been granted bondAn Oklahoma judge set Glossip’s bail at $500,000 and ruled that he could only be released to an approved pretrial release program determined by the court. Glossip is required to wear a GPS monitoring device. Glossip wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and jeans as he walked out of the jail hand-in-hand with his wife, Lea Glossip.“I’m just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful,” he said. “It’s overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time.”The judge’s ruling stated that Glossip must live with his wife at their home and report the address to a court-approved pretrial monitoring program. He is also required to follow residential curfew hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and is prohibited from traveling outside the state of Oklahoma.Glossip, a former death row inmate, survived nine execution dates before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction and death sentence in 2025.Since being removed from death row, Glossip had been held at the Oklahoma County Detention Center.Video below: Sister station KOCO’s helicopter shows moments Richard Glossip was released from jailThe case against Glossip largely relied on testimony from Justin Sneed, who admitted to carrying out the killing.In April, a judge rejected an argument from Glossip’s attorneys that he and Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond reached a plea agreement in 2023. The alleged agreement claimed that Drummond made a clear, written promise that if Glossip pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and gave up his right to sue the state, he would be released based on time served.When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Glossip’s conviction and death sentence, the court stated that he was entitled to a new trial. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on June 23.“Mr. Glossip now has the chance to taste freedom while his defense team continues to pursue justice on his behalf against a system that the United States Supreme Court has found to be guilty of serious misconduct by state prosecutors,” Glossip’s attorney Donald Knight said Thursday.Van Treese’s family had asked the Supreme Court to leave Glossip’s conviction and sentence intact. Attorneys for the family did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.Glossip’s case attracted international attention after actress Susan Sarandon — who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean’s fight to save a man on Louisiana’s death row in the 1995 movie “Dead Man Walking” — took up his cause in real life. Glossip’s case also was featured in the 2017 documentary film titled “Killing Richard Glossip.”“Both Richard and I are grateful for the court’s decision,” Glossip’s wife, Lea, said in a text to The Associated Press. “We have been praying for this day.”___The Associated Press contributed to this report.