An Oklahoma City man who claimed to have accidentally shot his sleeping wife while fighting off an intruder has been found guilty of her murder.
Kinney J. Glasson, Jr., 36, was charged with first degree murder after his wife was shot to death in the couple's home in the early morning hours of November 19, 2014. Glasson reported to police that he awoke to find an intruder in his bedroom, and reached for a gun to protect his family. He said that when he pointed the gun at the intruder, the unknown man pushed his arm down, causing him to accidentally shoot his sleeping wife, Erin Glasson, 41.
Throughout the trial, Glasson maintained that the shooting of his wife was an accident, and that he was trying to protect her, not kill her. Prosecutors, however, painted a much different story.
They pointed out that there was no evidence of a break-in, and said there was no DNA evidence to support the presence of anyone else inside the home. Additionally, they uncovered a sordid story of Glasson's affair with a stripper.
Prosecutors say Glasson was living a double life as the married father of a 5-year-old girl, and as the boyfriend of Reva Ann "Heaven" Smith, a woman he met at the Double D Saloon, an Oklahoma City strip club. Smith testified that Glasson initially told her that he had never been married, but when she discovered that he was married and a father, he told her he was planning to divorce his wife.
By November 2014, Glasson and Smith were looking for engagement rings, and the man told his girlfriend that his divorce would be final in January 2015. However, Glasson never filed for divorce from his wife, and within weeks, he "accidentally" shot her in the back as she slept. Prosecutors say he was hoping to gain $500,000 in life insurance and retirement benefits from his wife's death.
An Oklahoma County jury deliberated for about two hours before returning a guilty verdict. They recommended a sentence of life in prison. For parole purposes, a life sentence is calculated at 45 years. This means that a person sentenced to life for murder, which is an 85 percent crime, is not eligible for parole until 38.25 years of the sentence have been served. With credit for time served, Kinney Glasson will not be eligible for parole for at least 36 years.
Image credit: Peretz Partensky
