Attorneys seek dismissal of Columbia Falls murder case

Attorneys for accused killer Zain Alexander Ray Glass are asking a Flathead County District Court judge to dismiss his murder case, arguing he remains unfit to stand trial and that key deadlines have been missed.

Glass, 23, faces one count of deliberate homicide for allegedly stabbing Lukas Davis to death in Columbia Falls on Sept. 20, 2022. Davis was arguing with Glass’ sister in the moments leading up to the attack, according to court documents.

Since his arrest that same day — responding officers allegedly found him in the front yard of his Dawn Drive home holding a knife — Glass has remained in custody on the felony charge, but not yet entered a plea in district court. In November, Judge Robert Allison ordered Glass to the state mental hospital in Warm Springs for observation and evaluation.

In arguing for the dismissal, defense attorney Dianne Rice noted that doctors found Glass still unfit to proceed in February. Over Glass’ objection, prosecutors secured an additional 90 days for the murder suspect to become fit. Later that month, Glass began a court-ordered treatment plan at the mental hospital.

Prosecutors later filed another report from state doctors on May 4, two days after that order of commitment expired, showing Glass was again unfit to proceed, according to Rice’s motion, which was filed May 25.

Prosecutors asked for an extra 90 days and defense attorneys objected, Rice wrote. Allison never ruled on the request and failed to set a hearing on the matter, she argued.

“It is now … 203 days past the original order committing Mr. Glass to the state hospital, 113 days past the prior hearing to determine his fitness and 23 days past the expiration of the last order of commitment, and the court has not set a hearing to determine Mr. Glass’s fitness to proceed,” it reads.

Rice wrote that defense attorneys were seeking the dismissal for two reasons. Glass is unable to understand the proceedings or assist in his defense owing to a mental disease, she wrote. Second, the court has missed procedural deadlines to hold hearings on Glass’ fitness, laying the blame for the oversight partially with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office for failing to schedule Glass’ evaluations ahead of planned court hearings.

“It was the state’s failure to schedule its evaluation with enough time to present it before the deadline passed,” she wrote.

COUNTY ATTORNEY Travis Ahner objected to Rice’s version of events leading up to present day in his response to her motion. Where Rice viewed the latest evaluation by state doctors as affirming Glass’ inability to proceed, Ahner noted that the May report determined “Glass had shown significant improvement and was ‘likely to achieve fitness in the foreseeable future.’”

When prosecutors sought another 90-day extension in May, Glass’ defense attorneys never responded, he wrote. They waited until the deadline to respond passed and then filed the motion to dismiss, Ahner argued. In the meantime, he wrote, the court granted the prosecution’s request for an extension.

Ahner also attributed delays in the process to the unexpected death of a state employee tasked with coordinating evaluations and reports with attorneys.

To Rice’s arguments about missed deadlines, Ahner contends that while a hearing to review the effort to see a defendant regain fitness is required, state statute — aimed at ensuring a defendant is prevented from languishing at a mental health facility — does not mandate further benchmarks. The state Supreme Court also has rejected the argument that a dismissal is required upon the conclusion of the 90-day period, Ahner wrote.

And Glass has, in the intervening months, been the subject of several hearings presided over by Allison in district court, he noted.

“Glass has not languished at the state hospital,” Ahner wrote. “Instead, Glass has received multiple evaluations and the court has continually set and held status hearings to review his fitness to proceed.”

Rice responded to Ahner’s arguments in June, arguing that keeping Glass at the state hospital resulted in a violation of his rights. Rice indicated that defense attorneys want to see the case resolved with a civil commitment.

“This is a violation of his rights under [Montana Code Annotated], and of his right to not be made to sit indefinitely in a mental institution with charges looming over him,” she wrote.

Glass’ evaluation and treatment was not held up by well-publicized delays at the Warm Springs facility, she wrote. Despite quickly entering care, he remains unable to assist in his defense.

In the meantime, Glass’ other rights continue to erode, she argued, noting that he has been unable to help investigate the case as potential evidence fades with the passage of time.

“The reasonableness of the time given to the state to try to make someone fit should be calculated with Mr. Glass’ constitutional rights in mind,” Rice wrote.

Allison was expected to hold a hearing on the motion on July 12, but Glass was not in attendance. According to a minute entry filed in district court, Allison continued the hearing to July 19 owing to Glass’ absence.