Susan Sarandon calls for Oklahoma death row inmate to be spared lethal injection in striking echo of her Dead Man Walking character 

  • Richard Glossip, 52, is due to die next month after 17 years on death row
  • Convicted of murder for ordering hit on Barry Alan Van Treese in 1997
  • Sarandon believes he is innocent and said trials were 'ridiculous'
  • She called on public to write letters to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin 

By Kate Pickles For Mailonline

Published: 08:58 EST, 6 August 2015 | Updated: 11:15 EST, 6 August 2015

Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon has appealed to the U.S. public to help try to stop the execution of a death row inmate she believes is innocent.

Richard Glossip, 52, is due to die by lethal injection next month but has always maintained he is not guilty of murder.

He was sentenced to death for his part in the killing of motel owner Barry Alan Van Treese in January 1997.

Plea: Dead Man Walking actress Susan Sarandon

Plea: Actress Susan Sarandon (left) has appealed for the public's help to halt the execution of Richard Glossip, (right) due to be executed next month, who she says is 'clearly innocent' 

Ms Sarandon told Sky News that the scheduled execution in Oklahoma shows everything that is wrong with the death penalty in America.

Glossip was convicted on the testimony of Justin Sneed, who confessed to beating Treese to death with a baseball bat, but said he had been hired to do it by Glossip.

Sneed was given a prison sentence whereas Glossip was sentenced to death and has spent the last 17 years on death row. 

The actress, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of anti-capital punishment campaigner Sister Helen Prejean in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking, described Glossip's two trials as 'ridiculous' and said there was no physical evidence to implicate him.

She also described the governor of Oklahoma as a 'horrible person' for refusing to intervene.

'Once a mistake has been made within a judicial system, people just do not want to admit that mistake has been made and it becomes impossible to readdress them,' she said.

'And the only thing now that is going to give him a chance to survive is public opinion - is public embarrassment.' 

Art imitating life: Susan Sarandon, pictured here with Sean Penn in the film Dead Man Walking, is calling on people to embarrass Oklahoma Governor into giving death row inmate a stay of execution  

Art imitating life: Susan Sarandon, pictured here with Sean Penn in the film Dead Man Walking, is calling on people to embarrass Oklahoma Governor into giving death row inmate a stay of execution  

The Thelma and Louise actress has called on people to write to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, calling for her intervention to grant a stay of execution.

The governor and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt both declined requests for interviews, according to Sky News.

But Pruitt's office released a statement saying a jury had twice convicted and sentenced Glossip in the murder of Barry Van Treese.

'Glossip has challenged his conviction all the way to the US Supreme Court, exhausting all appeals, and has been unsuccessful at each challenge.

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