Oklahoma governor temporarily stays execution of death row inmate Richard Glossip

Execution chamber
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)

Update 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has issued a temporary stay of Glossip's execution, citing drug concerns. It has been rescheduled for November 6, 2015. Our original article appears below.

One day after unsuccessfully pleading for the state of Georgia to spare Kelly Gissendaner, a death row inmate in Georgia, Pope Francis has asked the governor of Oklahoma to spare the life of Richard Glossip, a death row inmate who is slated to be executed Wednesday afternoon.

Richard Glossip was convicted in the 1997 murder of a hotel manager, though his attorneys have maintained that he is innocent. After the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals delayed Glossip's execution to review new evidence, the judges narrowly voted against giving Glossip a last-minute hearing.

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The pope's pleas come after his first visit to the U.S. last week, in which he called for U.S. lawmakers to abolish the death penalty.

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