Glass given 20 years in state hospital for fatal 2022 stabbing

The mother of a 22-year-old man stabbed to death in Columbia Falls in 2022 said Thursday that the system set up to protect the community from criminals failed her son.  

"It took you murdering someone for anyone to pay attention," Jodie Davis told Zain Alexander Ray Glass, 24, during his sentencing in Flathead County District Court on Oct. 17. "Had anyone been proactive in [Glass'] life or done their job we would not be sitting here today." 

Initially brought up on a deliberate homicide charge, Glass reached a plea deal with prosecutors in August that saw him plead guilty to negligent homicide. As part of the arrangement, prosecutors agreed to recommend Glass serve a 20-year stint with the state Department of Public Health and Human Services at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs.  

Glass allegedly stabbed Lukas Davis after Davis argued with Glass' sister inside a Dawn Drive home on Sept. 20, 2022. When Columbia Falls Police officers arrived, they found Glass standing in the yard clutching a knife, according to court documents.  

Glass, who was on probation at the time for a felony burglary conviction from a 2017 case, later allegedly told investigators the stabbing was accidental.  

Though he was expected to be arraigned later that month, the hearing was postponed while officials tried to determine whether he was fit to proceed. Judge Robert Allison, who oversaw the case, ordered him to Warm Springs for an evaluation and observation in November of that year.  

Glass was eventually arraigned in February 2024.  

During the interim, personnel at the mental health hospital diagnosed Glass with schizophrenia, cannabis use disorder and stimulant use disorder, according to court documents. Attempts to get him fit to proceed to trial stretched out over months. 

Jodie Davis, the sole witness to testify during Glass' sentencing, attributed her son's death to Glass' failure to take treatment seriously prior to the stabbing.  

"Your willful neglect of schizophrenia was your choice," she said.  

She described her son as a wonderful brother to his sister, "a light to his entire family" and a loyal friend.  

"He was just a 22-year-old boy looking forward to his life," she said.  

Jodie Davis also described her son's final hours, thanking medical personnel for fighting to save him as he clung to life for about eight hours. 

"The thought of his last day on earth, experiencing pain, holding him until his last breath, has taken my spirit," she said. "That, Mr. Glass, is what one stab did." 

ALLISON FOLLOWED most of the recommendations laid out in the plea agreement, sentencing Glass to two decades at the Montana State Prison, giving him credit for 759 days of time served and ordering him to pay $8,487.50 to the crime victim compensation fund for the negligent homicide case.

In the 2017 case, which was reopened after the murder, Allison ordered Glass into the care of the Department of Public Health and Human Services for three years with credit for 759 days of time served and 13 months of street time. The two sentences are to run consecutively.  

Glass' defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought to see restitution waived, but Allison agreed to drop court fines and fees.  

At the behest of County Attorney Travis Ahner, Allison also added a stipulation that Glass abstain from drugs and alcohol if released back into the community.  

Ahner argued that drugs put Glass on the path to the fatal stabbing.  

"I would ask the court recommend and make explicit that Mr. Glass should be prohibited from consuming any drugs or alcohol including legal marijuana," Ahner told Allison. "That's what sort of pains me in this case. What we’re dealing with is, I believe, a societal attitude toward drugs that is not only letting people down but causing real harm, causing real damage. In this case, it caused real damage to Mr. Glass and led to the death of Lukas Davis." 

Glass began using marijuana at age 11, synthetic marijuana at 15 and methamphetamine at 16, Ahner said. Glass suffered his first psychotic break at 15, he said. 

"I've grown weary of people referring to drugs as a victimless crime. They're not. And this is where they lead," Ahner said. "As a result, that’s why we’re left with the loss of Lukas Davis and that’s a permanent hole for Jodie Davis and her family that can never been filled, and the best we can hope for, for Mr. Glass, is that he can get mentally healthy." 

GLASS OFFERED few words for his actions during sentencing.  

"There was an accident, and my mind wasn't in the right mindset and I was just scared for a while with all the fighting," he said in a low, barely audible voice.  

The 24-year-old had shuffled into the courtroom in an orange inmate's uniform over a beige long-sleeved shirt, his long hair tied in a loose ponytail. Throughout much of the hearing he sat slumped, his eyes flickering up to the judge. 

"I wish I had done things differently," he told Allison. "God grant me the ability to forgive myself as well as others." 

Allison disputed Glass' characterization of the stabbing as an accident, though. 

"I don't think this was an accident to any extent other than just the unfortunate tragic outgrowth of a life poorly lived up until that point that led us to where we are today," Allison said.  

He echoed Ahner's remarks, saying that the current approach to drug use, legal or otherwise, was falling short.  

"I don’t believe incarceration for somebody for smoking a joint, but where it’s shown where it is causing harm ... then it needs to be addressed and I think we’re going in the wrong direction," Allison said.  

He also commended Jodie Davis for testifying prior to handing down the sentences.  

"Thank you very much for your words," he told her as she departed the witness stand. "They are profound indeed and I am so sorry for your loss." 

 News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.