Court halts execution of Oklahoma man
McALESTER, Okla. – An appeals court halted the execution of an Oklahoma man with just hours to spare Wednesday after his attorneys said they had uncovered new evidence, including a fellow inmate’s claim that he overheard another man convicted in the case admit he acted alone.
Richard Eugene Glossip was twice convicted of ordering the killing of Barry Van Treese, who owned the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. Motel handyman Justin Sneed admitted robbing and beating Van Treese with a baseball bat but said he did so only after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000.
Glossip, 52, was scheduled to be executed at 3 p.m. Wednesday, but the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to a delay just before noon.
The court said it granted the last-minute request “in order for this court to give fair consideration” to Glossip’s new claims. The court rescheduled his execution for Sept. 30.
Hearing set on Bergdahl desertion
HOUSTON – Lawyers for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who faces military charges for leaving his post in Afghanistan, are likely to argue at his initial court hearing that his years of being held captive by the Taliban were punishment enough, according to legal experts.
The Army on Thursday is set to begin an Article 32 hearing in which military prosecutors and Bergdahl’s lawyers will make their cases for why he should or shouldn’t face a court-martial, the military equivalent of a civilian trial.
Bergdahl’s lead attorney, Eugene Fidell, has said that the hearing will provide the public with details about what led to the Idaho native’s disappearance from his post in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. Before disappearing, Bergdahl had expressed opposition to the war in general and misgivings about his own role in it.
Only handful of Syrian fighters remain
WASHINGTON – No more than five U.S.-trained Syrian rebels are fighting the Islamic State, astoundingly short of the envisioned 5,000, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East told angry lawmakers on Wednesday. They branded the training program “a total failure.”
After the first 54 fighters were sent in to fight in July, a Syrian affiliate of al-Qaida attacked the group, killing several and taking others hostage while many fled. Asked how many remain, Gen. Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee, “It’s a small number. ... We’re talking four or five.”
Congress has approved $500 million to train Syrian fighters, and officials have said fewer than 200 are going through training now.
Official: Obama peace prize fell short
STAVANGER, Norway – In a break with Nobel tradition, the former secretary of the Nobel Peace Prize committee says the 2009 award to President Barack Obama failed to live up to the panel’s expectations.
Geir Lundestad writes in a book to be released on Thursday that the committee had expected the prize to deliver a boost to Obama. Instead, the award was met with fierce criticism in the U.S., where many argued Obama had not been president long enough to have an impact worthy of the Nobel.
The Associated Press