By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret.)

Legal Issues and Case Citation: 

• Fourteenth Amendment due process 
• False evidence and the prosecution’s duty to correct 
• Glossip v. Oklahoma (Feb. 25, 2025) U.S. [145 S.Ct. 612; 221 L.Ed.2nd 90] 

Rule: The prosecution’s failure to correct false or misleading evidence presented at trial constitutes a Fourteenth Amendment due process violation, providing grounds for reversible error. 

Facts: Defendant Richard Glossip worked for Barry Van Treese, the owner of two Best Budget Inns, and managed Van Treese’s Oklahoma City inn. In the summer of 1996, Glossip hired a 19-year-old man named Justin Sneed to do maintenance and housekeeping in exchange for a free room. Allegedly unbeknownst to Glossip, Sneed had a history of violence, angry outbursts and substance abuse. On Jan. 6, 1997, Van Treese visited Glossip’s Best Budget for the purpose of collecting the cash deposits. Van Treese suspected at the time that Glossip had been allowing guests to stay at the motel “off the books,” pocketing the money for himself. After Van Treese discussed this issue with Glossip and then retired to his motel room, Sneed snuck into Van Treese’s room and repeatedly beat him over the head with a baseball bat, killing him.  

In the ensuing ....