The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with an Oklahoma death row inmate who claimed alongside the state itself that his trial was unfair, staving off his execution.

Convicted for the 1997 killing of his former boss, Richard Glossip has maintained his innocence for nearly three decades. State prosecutors said he orchestrated a murder-for-hire plot and paid a maintenance worker, Justin Sneed, to commit the killing.

But Glossip alleged the state denied him due process by withholding evidence from the defense and knowingly letting the jury hear false testimony from Sneed, a key witness. The state itself emerged as an unlikely ally to Glossip, admitting the inmate received an “unfair and unreliable trial.”

The justices agreed that Glossip’s trial was unfair, granting him a new one and, in the meantime, throwing out his death sentence. He’s been set for execution nine times — but each time avoided that fate.

“We conclude that the prosecution’s failure to correct........

© The Hill