Episode 105
Opinion Summary: Glossip v. Oklahoma | Date Decided: 2/25/25 | Case No. 22-7466
The questions presented in this case are: 1. Whether the State's suppression of the key prosecution witness's admission he was under the care of a psychiatrist and failure to correct that witness's false testimony about that care and related diagnosis violate the due process of law. 2. Whether the entirety of the suppressed evidence must be considered when assessing the materiality of Brady and Napue claims. 3. Whether due process of law requires reversal, where a capital conviction is so infected with errors that the State no longer seeks to defend it.
The Supreme Court held: 1. This Court has jurisdiction to review the OCCA’s judgment. 2. The prosecution violated its constitutional obligation to correct false testimony.
Transcript
The questions presented in this case 1.
Speaker A:Whether the state's suppression of the key prosecution witness's admission he was under the care of a psychiatrist and failure to correct that witness's false testimony about that care and related diagnosis violate the due process of law.
Speaker A:2.
Speaker A:Whether the entirety of the suppressed evidence must be considered when assessing the materiality of Brady and NAO claims.
Speaker A:3.
Speaker A:Whether due process of law requires reversal where a capital conviction is so infected with errors that the State no longer seeks to defend it.
Speaker A:Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Jackson joined and in which Justice Barrett joined as to part.
Speaker A:2.
Speaker A:Justice Barrett filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Speaker A:Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion in which Justice Alito joined and in which Justice Barrett joined as to parts 4A1, 4 and 4A3.
Speaker A:Justice Gorsuch took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Speaker A:Please note that this summary is read by an automated voice.
Speaker B: tomayor's majority opinion in: Speaker B:Glossip initially made inconsistent statements to the police about Sneed's role in the murder, but he ultimately told police that Sneed admitted to killing Van Treese.
Speaker B:Sneed later claimed Glossip had asked him to murder Van Treese because, among other things, Glossip had wanted to steal Van Treese's money.
Speaker B:Glossip maintained his innocence and refused a plea deal that would have had him avoid the death penalty in return for testifying against Sneed.
Speaker B:Sneed then testified against Glossip at trial in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, and Sneed's testimony was the only direct evidence connecting Glossip to the murder.
Speaker B:The jury convicted Glossip and sentenced him to death.
Speaker B:The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals OCCA overturned that conviction because the defense had been ineffective in challenging Sneed's testimony, and the remainder of the evidence only weakly corroborated Sneed's account.
Speaker B:At the retrial, Sneed provided inconsistent testimony on potential motives for Glossop's murder.
Speaker B:Sneed also denied that he had been prescribed lithium or seen a psychiatrist after the defense established the through the state's medical examiner that Van Treese had been attacked with a knife as well as a bat.
Speaker B:Sneed testified that he had repeatedly tried to stab Van Treece in the chest with a pocket knife, but Sneed had previously denied stabbing Van Treece, both when questioned by the police as well as at Glossop's first trial.
Speaker B:Glossip moved for a mistrial based on the prosecution's failure to notify the defense about Sneed's change in testimony, which the trial court denied.
Speaker B:After the prosecution disclaimed any knowledge about the change, Glossip was again convicted and sentenced to death and a closely divided Ocka affirmed, holding that circumstantial evidence suggesting Glossip had mismanaged the hotel, combined with Glossip's concession that he had been dishonest in his initial statements after the murder sufficiently corroborated Sneed's testimony that he killed Van Tree at Glossip's direction.
Speaker B:Glossip subsequently filed several unsuccessful habeas petitions.
Speaker B:Concerns over the integrity of his conviction led a bipartisan group of Oklahoma legislators to commission an independent investigation by a law firm, Reed Smith.
Speaker B: In June: Speaker B:Reed Smith reported grave doubt about Glossip's conviction, citing factors such as the prosecution's deliberate destruction of key evidence and the false portrayal of Justin Sneed as a non violent puppet.
Speaker B:The state then disclosed seven boxes of previously withheld documents, including letters suggesting Sneed had considered recanting and a note from prosecutor Connie Smotherman to Sneed's lawyer, noting they should get to Sneed to discuss his problematic testimony about a knife found in Van Treece's room.
Speaker B:Glossop filed for post conviction relief based on this evidence and evidence revealed by Reed Smith.
Speaker B:Glossop also argued that during his second trial Smotherman had interfered with Sneed's testimony about the knife, in violation of the Rule of Sequestration, which prohibits witnesses from hearing each other's testimony.
Speaker B:Oklahoma waived any procedural defenses to Glossop's claims and asked the OCCA to deny the claims on their merits.
Speaker B:The OCCA denied Glossop's claims as procedurally barred and meritless.
Speaker B:The state then discovered additional documents revealing that Sneed had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed lithium.
Speaker B:Contradicting his trial testimony, the Attorney General determined that Smotherman had knowingly elicited false testimony from Sneed and failed to correct it, violating Napu v.
Speaker B:Illinois, 360 U.S.
Speaker B:264, which held that prosecutors have a constitutional obligation to correct false testimony.
Speaker B:Glossip filed a successive petition for post conviction relief which the Attorney General supported, conceding multiple errors that warranted a new trial.
Speaker B:The OCCA denied the unopposed petition without a hearing, holding that Glossip's claims were procedurally barred under Oklahoma's Post Conviction Procedures act and further that the state's concession was not based in law or fact because it did not create a NAPU error, this court stayed Glossip's execution and granted certiorari held 1.
Speaker B:This court has jurisdiction to review the occasion judgment.
Speaker B:The independent and adequate state ground doctrine precludes the court from considering a federal question if the state court's decision rests on an independent and adequate State Law Ground.
Speaker B:OCCASIONAL's application of the PCPA was not such a ground because the Occasional decision to apply the PCPA depended on its antecedent rejection of the Attorney General's confession of a NAPU error, which was based solely on federal law.
Speaker B:The OCCA held that the confession could not overcome the PCPA's limitations because it lacked a basis in law or fact.
Speaker B:Specifically finding no NAPU error, Oklahoma precedent confirms that the OCCA normally rejects an Attorney General's confession of error only after finding it unsupported by law and the record.
Speaker B:By making the application of the PCPA contingent on its determination that the Attorney General's confession of federal constitutional error was baseless, the OCCA made the procedural bar dependent on an antecedent ruling on federal law.
Speaker B:To the extent that the occasion reasoning on this point is insufficiently clear from the face of the opinion, the court presumes reliance on federal law.
Speaker B:Under Michigan v.
Speaker B:Long, 463 U.S.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:2 the prosecution violated its constitutional obligation to correct false testimony.
Speaker B:A Under napu, a conviction obtained through the knowing use of false evidence violates the 14th Amendment's due process clause.
Speaker B:To establish a NPU violation, a defendant must show that the prosecution knowingly solicited or allowed false testimony to go uncorrected.
Speaker B:If a violation is established, a new trial is warranted if the false testimony could in any reasonable likelihood have affected the jury's judgment, meaning ordinarily that the prosecution must establish harmlessness because beyond a reasonable doubt.
Speaker B:United States v.
Speaker B:Bagley, 473 U.S.
Speaker B:667, 680 n.9 Chapman vs.
Speaker B:California, 386 U.S.
Speaker B:1824.
Speaker B:Here, Oklahoma's Attorney General joins Glossip in asserting a NAPU error, conceding that Sneed's testimony about his lithium prescription was false and that the prosecution knowingly failed to correct it.
Speaker B:The record supports that confession of error evidence showed that Sneed was prescribed lithium to treat bipolar disorder, not after asking for cold medicine as he claimed at trial.
Speaker B:The evidence likewise establishes that the prosecution knew Sneed's testimony was false.
Speaker B:The prosecution almost certainly had access to Sneed's medical file through Sneed's competency evaluation.
Speaker B:And Smotherman's notes show that she had a pretrial conversation with Sneed at which he mentioned Lithium and Dr.
Speaker B:Trumpet.
Speaker B:The straightforward inference is that Smotherman was aware before trial that Snead had received his lithium prescription from Dr.
Speaker B:Tromka, a psychiatrist and the sole medical professional at the Oklahoma County Jail authorized to prescribe lithium.
Speaker B:Because Sneed's testimony was the only direct evidence of Glossop's guilt, the jury's assessment of Sneed's credibility was material and necessarily determinative.
Speaker B:Correcting Sneed's lie would have undermined his credibility and revealed his willingness to lie under oath.
Speaker B:The false testimony also bore on Glossip's guilt because evidence of Sneed's bipolar disorder, which could trigger impulsive violence when combined with his drug use, would have contradicted the prosecution's portrayal of Sneed as harmless without Glossop's influence.
Speaker B:Hence, there is a reasonable likelihood that correcting Sneed's testimony would have affected the judgment of the jury.
Speaker B:Napu, 360 U.S.
Speaker B:at 271.
Speaker B:Additional prosecutorial misconduct, such as violating the rule of sequestration, destroying evidence, and withholding witness statements, further undermines confidence in the verdict.
Speaker B:Consequently, the prosecution's failure to correct Sneed's false testimony entitles Glossip to a new trial under NA Poo B.
Speaker B:The occasional contrary holding rests on a mistaken interpretation of napu.
Speaker B:The OCCA held that there was no violation because the defense was aware or should have been aware that Sneed was taking lithium.
Speaker B:But Sneed's false testimony concerned the reasons for his prescription, not merely the fact that he had taken lithium.
Speaker B:Moreover, the Due Process Clause imposes the duty to correct false testimony on the state, not the defense.
Speaker B:The occasional that Sneed was likely in denial of his mental health disorders is beside the point.
Speaker B:What matters is that the testimony was false and the prosecutor knowingly allowed it to stand.
Speaker B:Additional arguments in support of the OCCA's position are unpersuasive.
Speaker B:NAPU does not require that the false testimony itself must have directly affected the trial's outcome.
Speaker B:NPU requires assessing whether the prosecutor's failure to correct the testimony could have contributed to the verdict.
Speaker B:Also unpersuasive are arguments based on extra record materials and insufficient time spent interviewing the prosecutor.
Speaker B:Because the Attorney General's confession of error is supported by ample evidence, the Court declines to remand this case for further evidentiary proceedings.
Speaker B:When the Court has jurisdiction, a new trial is the appropriate remedy for a violation of napu reversed and remanded Justice.
Speaker C:Barrett's opinion, concurring in part and dissenting in part, I agree with the Court's jurisdictional holding and join Part two of its opinion.
Speaker C:When a state law ground of decision intertwines with analysis of a federal question, we treat the decision as independent only if the state court makes clear through a plain statement that its resolution of the state law question does not depend on resolving the federal question.
Speaker C:Though a closer question than the Court suggests, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals opinion lacks such clarity.
Speaker C:The OCCA rejected Glossop's application based on state law procedural limits, but its opinion implies that it refused to accept the Attorney General's waiver of this procedural bar because his confession of error lacked basis in law.
Speaker C:Because the opinion contains no plain statement clarifying that its reliance on state law was truly independent of its assessment of Glossop's federal claims, we properly proceed to the merits.
Speaker C:I also share the Court's view that the OCCA misapplied Napu.
Speaker C:The OCCA appeared to find Sneed's testimony was not clearly false because he was more than likely in denial of his mental health disorders.
Speaker C:But for NAPU purposes, the question is not whether a witness subjectively thought he was lying it is whether the prosecution knowingly presented untrue testimony.
Speaker C:The OK also ignored that had the prosecutor corrected Sneed's testimony, the jury would have learned that Sneed made a false statement on the stand.
Speaker C:Given that Sneed's testimony was the primary evidence proving Glossip planned the murder, a juror confronted with a prosecutor forced to correct her star witness might have disbelieved Sneed's testimony entirely and changed her assessment of whether the state proved Glossop's guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Speaker C:I part ways with the Court on what comes next.
Speaker C:In exercising our appellate function, we do not find facts we review lower court's factual findings under deferential standards.
Speaker C:This court excels at answering federal law questions but is ill equipped to determine witness credibility or master voluminous trial records.
Speaker C:Other actors in our judicial system, including state courts like the occa, better serve these functions.
Speaker C:As our standard of review reflects here, however, the Court has chosen to function as the initial fact finder.
Speaker C:The court's approach cannot be right when Smotherman's notes, consisting only of the words on lithium and Dr.
Speaker C:Trumpet are hardly clear and subject to competing explanations.
Speaker C:Glossip, the Oklahoma attorney General, and the court argue these demonstrate Smotherman knew Sneed lied about Dr.
Speaker C:Tromka prescribing lithium for bipolar disorder.
Speaker C:The Van Trees amicus brief and Justice Thomas contend the notes instead reflects Sneed recounting what defense counsel had asked him at prior meetings.
Speaker C:Other possibilities exist.
Speaker C:Perhaps Smotherman was confused by references to Dr.
Speaker C:Trumpet and lithium but never investigated further.
Speaker C:Neither Dr.
Speaker C:Tromka's affidavit nor the medical information sheet nor any other record evidence forecloses these possibilities.
Speaker C:When the record allows multiple plausible inferences, this Court should correct the occasional misstatements of federal law and vacate the judgment, leaving next steps to the occa.
Speaker C:By doing otherwise, the Court both displaces the OCCA as fact finder and potentially overrides state law constraints on its remedial authority.
Speaker D:Justice Thomas Dissenting Opinion we lack jurisdiction to review this case under the independent and adequate state ground doctrine, which precludes our review of state court judgments resting on state law grounds independent of federal questions and adequate to support the judgment.
Speaker D:The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals OCCA denied Glossip successive post conviction application under Oklahoma's Post Conviction Procedure act pcpa, which requires an applicant to show both that the factual basis for his claim was previously unavailable through reasonable diligence and that the facts would establish by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable fact finder would have convicted him.
Speaker D: nd lithium prescription since: Speaker D:The majority evades this straightforward conclusion by inventing a federal holding the OCCA never made misconstruing the OCCA statement that the state's concession was not based in law or fact as an antecedent ruling on federal law rather than what it was a finding that the state's concession overlooked additional state law requirements.
Speaker D:Even assuming jurisdiction, Glossip fails to show entitlement to relief on his NAPU claim.
Speaker D:The OCCA correctly held Sneed's statements about his lithium prescription were not material because defense counsel knew of his condition but made a strategic decision not to pursue it at trial.
Speaker D:There is no reasonable likelihood that Sneed's challenged testimony changed the jury's verdict since it did not bear on any contested issue.
Speaker D: The defense knew by: Speaker D:By suggesting Sneed was mentally vulnerable to Glossop's manipulation, the majority redefines NAPU materiality, focusing not on whether the false testimony itself affected the verdict, but on whether a hypothetical correction might have impacted the jury's credibility assessment.
Speaker D:This this novel approach unmores NAPU from its theoretical justification of preventing corruption of the truth seeking function.
Speaker D:When juries actually rely on false testimony, the majority compounds these errors with an indefensible remedial decree ordering a new trial rather than remanding for further proceedings.
Speaker D:Multiple unresolved state law questions preclude holding that the AKE should have ordered a new trial.
Speaker D:The ACA could clarify on remand that it meant to invoke the PCPA bar regardless of any NPU violation.
Speaker D:State law may provide other independent grounds for denying relief that the OCA has not considered, and state law appears not to authorize a new trial as a remedy at this preliminary stage.
Speaker D:Moreover, even setting aside procedural barriers, Glossip would at most be entitled to an evidentiary hearing given the genuine factual disputes, particularly the Van Trees family's alternative interpretation that the smoking gun notes merely reflect Sneed recounting questions from defense counsel.
Speaker D:The majority's rush to order a new trial while using procedural technicalities to deny the victim's family an opportunity to be heard reflects results oriented jurisprudence at odds with fundamental principles governing our review of.
Speaker A:State court judgments case.
Speaker A:The Glossip decision is likely to have limited direct precedential impact given Oklahoma's unique post conviction framework and the unusual circumstance of a state attorney general confessing error in a capital case after decades of defending the conviction.
Speaker A:However, the Court's analysis of NPU violations could have broader implications for how courts evaluate prosecutorial obligations to correct false testimony.
Speaker A:The majority's holding that materiality can be established by showing the mere act of correction could have affected the jury's credibility assessment rather than requiring the false testimony itself to be material, represents a significant expansion of napu's reach.
Speaker A:The decision highlights growing tension between the Supreme Court's traditional deference to state procedural rules and its supervision of constitutional violations in criminal cases.
Speaker A:The Court's willingness to look past state procedural bars when confronted with serious constitutional errors, particularly in capital cases, suggests increased skepticism of procedural obstacles to reviewing fundamental fairness claims.
Speaker A:However, Justice Barrett's separate opinion and Justice Thomas dissent underscore persistent divisions about the appropriate balance between federal constitutional oversight and state autonomy in criminal procedure.
Speaker A:The court's remedial approach, directing a new trial rather than remanding for further state proceedings, marks an assertion of federal power that could affect future cases involving constitutional violations in state courts.
Speaker A:While the majority frames this as flowing naturally from finding a NAPU violation, the dissent argues, this departs from traditional practice of allowing state courts to consider alternative grounds for their judgments.
Speaker A:The decision may embolden federal courts to be more directive in fashioning remedies when finding constitutional violations, rather than deferring to state courts to determine appropriate relief under state law.
