Glick guilty

A jury Wednesday quickly convicted Ronald Glick of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl during 2003.

Glick hung his head when the verdict was announced after two days of testimony and just a couple hours of deliberation. He reportedly broke down as he was taken by elevator from the courtroom to the jail, where he was placed in a medical cell after he expressed his despondency.

His accuser, now 15, testified that he placed his hands under her shirt and down her pants, even though she told him to stop. Although Glick didn't testify, his defense was that he was asleep and unaware of what he was doing.

"We always had faith in the girl," said prosecuting Deputy County Attorney Tim Wenz. "She's the whole reason he was convicted. … We're glad the jury was able to see beyond the smokescreen."

"I believed her," said co-prosecutor Lori Adams. "These are tough cases. It's a he-said, she-said type of thing. A lot of times, kids don't get the verdict" because the crimes are committed in secret, without any evidence except the child's allegation.

In this case, a man who was in jail with Glick testified that Glick described to him how he assaulted the girl.

"We are so proud of her," said the girl's father. As an underage victim of a sexual crime, the Daily Inter Lake won't disclose her identity or his. "Justice was served."

Juror Jeff Christiana of Kalispell said the jury quickly concurred about Glick's guilt.

They discussed his defense and tried to see whether anything in it was persuasive.

"It was very weak," he said.

"Everybody pretty much had the same thought," Christiana said.

Glick was arrested after the girl said he molested her on a couch as they watched cartoons at his business, Arcadia, in Kalispell, .

Between the time she leveled her accusation and the time he was arrested, Glick had moved to Washington.

He filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city, Police Department and individuals, claiming defamation of character and other damages he said he suffered because of the investigation against him. He also named the girl's grandparents as defendants.

They are in whom the girl confided after the assault. They contacted police.

The girl's mother reportedly didn't believe her. According to the girl's testimony, the mother told her to explain away the assault by saying that Glick must have been asleep when it happened.

The girl's father said he is trying to regain custody of the girl.

He is concerned about the long-term effects of the abuse on his daughter, he said.

"In that part, she is never going to get over it," he said, wiping away tears in the courtroom.

District Judge Kitty Curtis set sentencing for Oct. 27. She ordered a sex-offender evaluation to be conducted before then.

Glick faces two to 100 years or life in prison.