Richard Glossip has been scheduled to die nine times. He’s had three last meals. He’s said farewell to his wife, Lea, five times. And every time, he’s been granted a stay or an appeal—another chance.

Now, a quarter-century after being convicted of a murder almost everyone agrees he is not guilty of, his long, tortuous journey is nearing its climax.

All of which is to say that, in the not-too-distant future, Glossip, 60, will be dead, or he will be the man who brings down the death penalty in one of the most pro–death penalty states in the country. Or possibly, even, both.

[I have friends who are very invested in the Glossip case, which I confess I have not closely followed otherwise. There appears to be enough cause for doubt that even the state’s Republican governor and AG think he may have been wrongly convicted. But as Subramanya explains, neither can stop an execution, not even with a clemency action, because the state’s Pardon and Parole Board has to approve — and they have refused to take up the case. I would bet that the Supreme Court will hack through this Gordian knot and at least order a new trial for Glossip, and will almost certainly vacate the death sentence at the very least. — Ed]