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Pope Francis appeals to Oklahoma to stop another US execution Richard Glossip: Oklahoma halts execution 'to check drugs'
(about 5 hours later)
Pope Francis has appealed to the governor of Oklahoma to commute an inmate's death sentence. A man convicted of ordering his boss's murder has had his execution postponed at the very last minute, due to uncertainty over the lethal drugs.
The Pope sent a similar plea this week to Georgia officials to spare the life of inmate Kelly Gissendaner. Richard Glossip looked certain to die by injection in Oklahoma on Wednesday afternoon after the US Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
However, Ms Gissendaner, who ordered her husband's murder, was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday after a number of legal appeals. But Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has asked for more time to check if the drugs are compliant with state rules.
During the pontiff's visit last week to the US, the Pope urged Congress to abolish the death penalty. Pope Francis had urged her to halt the execution.
The pope's representative Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano wrote Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin about the case of Richard Glossip on 19 September. His archbishop had written to her and urged her to act to commute the sentence, but she said she did not have the authority to do so.
Glossip, convicted of conspiring to kill his boss, is set to die by lethal injection on Wednesday afternoon. An hour after Glossip was due to be put to death, Ms Fallin announced that she was rescheduling the execution for 6 November.
He and his family have maintained his innocence for nearly 20 years, arguing that he was set up. She said prison officials had received potassium acetate for use in the execution, as one of the three drugs used, but state guidelines only list potassium chloride.
His co-worker Adam Sneed was convicted in 1997 of fatally beating their boss Barry Van Treese, the owner of the Oklahoma City motel where they both worked. Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton said he requested the stay of execution "out of due diligence".
Sneed had been a key prosecution witness against Glossip but his attorneys had said they had an affidavit from another inmate who said Sneed admitted to setting Glossip up. Glossip's boss Barry Van Treese, the owner of the Oklahoma City motel, was beaten to death in 1997.
An Oklahoma court had agreed to halt his execution that had been scheduled for two weeks ago when his lawyers brought up that new evidence for review. His colleague Adam Sneed was convicted of the killing but said Glossip had ordered him to carry it out.
That court has not called to stop Wednesday's execution. Glossip and his family have maintained his innocence for nearly 20 years, saying that Sneed acted alone.
Ms Fallin said at the time she would respect whatever decision the appeals court made after lawyers reviewed new evidence. He was first convicted in 1998 but that was overturned in 2001, only for Glossip to be convicted again three years later.
Glossip also served as a plaintiff in a case that argued the sedative midazolam violated the US's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In the most recent appeals, his lawyers said they had an affidavit from another inmate who said Sneed admitted to setting Glossip up.
The US Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma's three-drug formula for lethal injections in June, allowing his execution to proceed. British billionaire Richard Branson took out a full-page ad in The Oklahoman newspaper on Wednesday that argued Glossip is innocent.
The Pope has stepped up his advocacy against the death penalty in recent weeks. Executions have been delayed recently in the US amid problems buying drugs as many firms have refused to sell them.
"Every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes," the Pope told Congress last week. Oklahoma's drugs procedures have been under scrutiny since a flawed execution in April 2014.
Several other high profile people including British billionaire Richard Branson and actress Susan Sarandon have also urged that Glossip not be executed. Clayton Lockett struggled for 43 minutes before eventually dying, after an intravenous line was improperly placed.
Mr Branson took out a full-page ad in The Oklahoman newspaper on Wednesday that argued that Glossip is innocent. The Pope had also intervened in the case of a woman in Georgia, but Kelly Gissendaner was put to death on Tuesday.
The ad says there is a "breathtaking" lack of evidence in the case. During the pontiff's visit last week to the US, he urged Congress to abolish the death penalty.