The state is expected to call its last witness to the stand this morning, resting its case against Adrian Edward Glass, 27. Glass pleaded guilty to the July 2009 murders of his parents, Jimmie Glass, 51, and Denise Glass, 49, of Moody.
Even though Glass pleaded guilty to the murders of his parents in February, in accordance with Alabama law, the state must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury.
Glass’ guilty plea spared him a possible death sentence. According to the plea agreement with the state, Glass pleaded guilty to two counts of capital murder and will receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for each count.
According to witness testimony, Glass shot both his parents to death as they slept in their Moody home on James Taylor Road.
After Glass was taken into custody in South Dakota, he provided investigators with a four-page written confession of the double homicide.
Authorities said Glass was charged with capital murder because he committed the murder during the commission of another crime. Glass told authorities he stole $500 from his mother’s purse and fled from the murder scene.
In 2009, relatives contacted authorities after Mrs. Glass’ boss called family members, saying the hairdresser did not show up for work.
According to witness testimony, family members were also trying to reach the couple, since Mrs. Glass birthday was the day after her son murdered the couple after a night of drinking.
Family member Joey Rich testified Tuesday about breaking the back door window, so he and Moody police officers could make entry into the locked home. He led police to the master bedroom where the couple was found dead.
“All the lights were off, it was cold, and there was a foul smell,” Moody Police Officer Matt Morris testified Tuesday.
Morris was one of the first officers to arrive at the residence for a welfare check on the couple.
Morris testified he and another officer secured the scene and made sure there was nobody else in the home.
He said they observed a rifle lying across a bed in Adrian Glass’ room.
Testimony by Charles London Pearce with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences revealed that the rifle, a Marlin .22 caliber bolt-action rifle was the murder weapon.
Pearce testified that spent casings found scattered in the master bedroom were shot from the .22 caliber rifle.
The state will call its last witness this morning, Emily Ward, a state forensic pathologist.
Jurors also saw a 10-minute video of Glass’ arrest by a South Dakota State Trooper.
Others who testified Tuesday were Moody Police Department Investigator David Scott, Lt. Daniel Praytor and St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Tommy Dixon.
From the witness stand, Dixon read out loud the two written confessions Glass provided to authorities, admitting that he shot and killed his parents.
“The alcohol, the sarcastic remark my mom had made, the t-shirt she had given me that said, ‘My parents said when I grow up, I could be anything so I became a ass….,’ and me being in such debt, no job, no work and not using the sense God gave me led me to commit this awful crime against my parents, my family and friends,” Dixon said as he read aloud one of Glass’ hand-written confessions. “I robbed my Aunt Donna of a sister, my Granny Glass of a son. I can only ask that one day I may receive their forgiveness…”
The capital murder trial will resume at 9 a.m. today in St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Phil Seay’s courtroom.
Contact David Atchison at datchison@dailyhome.com.
