Oklahoma attorney general recommending clemency for death row inmate who was nearly executed 3 times

Oklahoma's new Attorney General Gentner Drummond plans to ask the state's Pardon and Parole Board on Wednesday to recommend sparing the life of death row inmate Richard Glossip, a highly unusual move for the state's top prosecutor's office that typically urges the board to reject clemency. Glossip was almost executed three times, including once when he was just a few feet from the state's death chamber.

In a letter dated Monday to the five-member board and obtained by CBS News, Drummond wrote that he has serious concerns about the fairness of Glossip's trial and cited two independent reviews of the case that recommended Glossip be granted a new trial.

"I am not aware of an Oklahoma Attorney General ever supporting a clemency application for a death row inmate," Drummond wrote. "In every previous case that has come before this board, the state has maintained full confidence in the integrity of the conviction. That is simply not the case in this matter due to the material evidence that was not disclosed to the jury."