Oklahoma plans to retry Richard Glossip for murder but will not seek death penalty, top prosecutor says

Washington — Oklahoma's attorney general said Monday that the state plans to retry inmate Richard Glossip for the murder of his boss after the Supreme Court earlier this year granted him a new trial, but will not seek the death penalty against him.

Gentner Drummond, the state's top prosecutor, said in a statement that his office does not intend to dismiss the existing first-degree murder charge brought against Glossip for the 1997 killing of Barry Van Treese, the owner of the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked.

Instead, the attorney general said his office will seek a sentence of life in prison for Glossip because the man who confessed to bludgeoning Van Treese with a baseball bat, Justin Sneed, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.