Kim Kardashian reportedly posted bail for a former death row inmate who was released from prison pending a retrial over a 1997 killing.
Richard Glossip was released from incarceration in Oklahoma on Thursday, May 14, after nearly 30 years on death row for first-degree murder, the Associated Press reported.
Glossip, 63, narrowly escaped execution over the decades, per the report. He was slated for execution on nine different dates and served a last meal on at least three occasions.
The U.S. Supreme Court vacated his conviction in February 2025, and he is set to be retried for murder. Prosecutors allege that Glossip ordered the murder of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, who was beaten to death in January 1997. Glossip has maintained his innocence, and his case has received support from the likes of Kardashian and actress Susan Sarandon over the years.
Judge Natalie Mai set Glossip’s bond at $500,000, which Kardashian, 45, posted Thursday, according to film producer Scott Budnick, a longtime advocate for Glossip’s release.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, Budnick said Glossip was “released on bail that was GRACIOUSLY paid for immediately by @kimkardashian who’s been fighting for Rich’s freedom for years.”
According to the Associated Press, Glossip was released on the conditions that he must wear an electronic monitoring device, must not travel outside of Oklahoma, must not have any contact with witnesses in his case, and must not consume drugs or alcohol.
“I’m just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful. It’s overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time,” Glossip said Thursday upon leaving prison holding hands with his wife, Lea Glossip.
Leading by example. Kim Kardashian is very honest with her children about the work she’s doing with prison reform. For her new documentary, Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project, she visited prisons and sat down with those who had been incarcerated to hear their stories. When she’d leave to go to do the interviews, she’d tell […]
“Mr. Glossip now has the chance to taste freedom while his defense team continues to pursue justice on his behalf against a system that the United States Supreme Court has found to be guilty of serious misconduct by state prosecutors,” his attorney, Donald Knight, said.
Glossip’s conviction and death sentence were overturned in February 2025 after the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors in his initial 1998 trial allowed a witness to give evidence that they knew to be false, violating Glossip’s right to a fair trial.
“The court fully expects that the state will rigorously prosecute its case going forward and the defense will provide robust representation for Glossip,” Mai wrote in an order issued on Thursday. “The court hopes that a new trial, free of error, will provide all interested parties and the citizens of Oklahoma the closure they deserve.”
In June 2025, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced plans to retry Glossip for first-degree murder but said prosecutors would not seek the death penalty again.
“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 at the time. “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.”
