It was after 10 a.m. on Monday morning when Richard Glossip was led into an eighth-floor courtroom in the Oklahoma County Courthouse by three sheriff’s deputies. Wearing orange prison scrubs and Crocs, and shackled at the waist and ankles, Glossip, now 62, looked small compared to the hulking deputies around him. His hair, now almost entirely gray, was long and combed to the side. Though his expression was impassive as he entered the room, his face softened into a smile when he caught sight of his wife Lea and other supporters sitting in the front row.

It was the first time in years that Glossip had been in a courtroom, and it was the first hearing in his case since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in late February that prosecutorial misconduct had so tainted Glossip’s case that his death penalty conviction should be overturned. It was a victory not only for Glossip but also for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who had taken unprecedented steps to block Glossip’s execution — and fought alongside him to secure the high court’s decision.

“The high court has validated my grave concerns with how this prosecution was handled,” Drummond said shortly after the ruling. “I am thankful we now have a fresh opportunity to see that justice is done.”

Drummond wasn’t in court on Monday morning. But his proxy Jimmy Harmon, chief of the AG’s criminal division was — and signaled that the office is ready to prosecute Glossip for a third time. While Harmon did not publicly announce what the charge would be, Judge Heather Coyle noted that the state has said it would not be seeking the death penalty — suggesting that the state will try Glossip for murder yet again.

The state’s plans were confirmed in a statement released by Drummond’s office shortly after the hearing. “While it was clear to me and to the U.S. Supreme Court that Mr. Glossip did not receive a fair trial, I have never proclaimed his innocence,” Drummond said. “After the high court remanded the matter back to district court, my office thoroughly reviewed the merits of the case against Richard Glossip and concluded that sufficient evidence exists to secure a murder conviction. … Unlike past prosecutors who allowed a key witness to lie on the stand, my office will make sure Mr. Glossip receives a fair trial based on hard facts, solid evidence and truthful testimony.”

Drummond’s announcement that the state would retry Glossip for first-degree murder was a shocking reversal of his recent public statements about the case. Drummond, who is running for governor, made the rounds in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, boasting about his success at the high court. Asked at a press conference how he might resolve the case, Drummond said “everything is on the table; a jury trial, all the way down.” But he noted that it “would be difficult” to retry Glossip after so many years.

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