Daniel Pinna
Jury: Man killed accidentally in struggle with wife
WARNER ROBINS - The death of a Warner Robins man shot Oct. 31 while he and his wife were struggling over a handgun was accidental, according to the Monday ruling of a Houston County coroner's jury.
Jerome Glaser, 41, of 110 Mitchell Court was killed with a revolver he had purchased earlier that month for protection after being wounded by an intruder, testimony showed.
The jury's ruling will mean that the cause of Glaser's death will be changed from homicide to accidental on his death certificate, Houston County Coroner Daniel L. Galpin said.
It is not binding on the Houston County District Attorney's office, which will continue its investigation and may present the case to a grand jury, according to Assistant Houston County District Attorney Lisa Bullard.
GLASER UNDERWENT a dramatic personality change after he was shot Oct. 4 by a burglar in his home, witnesses testified Monday. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound employee of Robins Air Force Base was afraid to stay in his residence immediately after the incident, according to relatives. When he and his family did return, they all slept in the family room because Glaser was fearful of sleeping in the bedroom where he was shot, testimony showed.
Glaser and his wife, Dorothy, moved back into their own bedroom just two days before his death, Dorothy Glaser testified. The Glaser family had had a peeping Tom before the first shooting and had received obscene and threatening telephone calls before and after the incident, she said.
AFTER THE Oct. 4 shooting, Jerome Glaser had episodes of amnesia, disorientation, slow speech and reduced levels of consciousness, medical records showed.
The wound he received then was a glancing blow to the forehead, but could have caused brain damage even though the skull was not fractured, according to an expert witness hired by the family's attorney.
Dr. Michael J. Prewett, a clinical psychologist and head of the Division of Behavioral Sciences at Mercer University Medical School, testified that Glaser could have been diagnosed as having three different organic or emotional disorders as a result of the shooting. Glaser's bizarre behavior between the two shooting incidents was symptomatic of the disorders, Prewett said.
Withnesses, including Glaser's widow, testified that after the Oct. 4 shooting, Glaser purchased a .357-caliber Magnum handgun, which he always kept with him, even on shopping trips and when he attended the Houston County Fair.
He kept the weapon wrapped in the black jacket which was pierced by bullets during the first shooting, family members said.
DURING OCTOBER, Glaser sometimes did not recognize people and was easily startled, witnesses said. He had family members go through identification procedures before attempting to enter the residence because he said "he was real scared and he might end up shooting one of us," according to his 13-year-old- daughter, Jennifer Glaser.
One day Dorothy Glaser forgot to identify herself as she entered the house after grocery shopping and walked through the door to find her husband pointing the pistol at her, she testified.
"I screamed, dropped the groceries and fell in the floor," she said. After he apparently recognized her, Glaser put the gun down, apologized and started to cry, she said.
Glaser visited several doctors, including a neurosurgeon and a psychologist, but was not hospitalized and did not receive any medication for his problems, his wife said.
SHE GAVE this account of the events the day of her husband's death: Glaser was in bed when she returned from taking something to her son at school. She started to get into bed and pulled the sheet from his head to find him pointing the gun at her again. She screamed at him, and he kept asking her, "Who the hell are you and what are you going to do?"
She grabbed the gun in an effort to get it away from her husband and the two were wrestling over it when the weapon discharged. "He looked at me and said, 'I'm sorry.' He thought he'd shot me. Then he started breathing funny." She called the Houston County Sheriff's Department, who summoned police and an ambulance.
Glaser was taken to the Houston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the lower chest, testimony showed. Dr. James Q. Whittaker, the Houston County medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Glaser, testified that he listed the death as a homicide only because evidence showed Glaser did not commit suicide and another person was involved in the shooting. Family members, through attorney Ken Lucas, requested the corner's inquest, Galpin said.
- Written by Suzanne Carswell and appeared in the Macon Telegraph Tuesday December 31st 1985
Jerome Glaser, 41, of 110 Mitchell Court was killed with a revolver he had purchased earlier that month for protection after being wounded by an intruder, testimony showed.
The jury's ruling will mean that the cause of Glaser's death will be changed from homicide to accidental on his death certificate, Houston County Coroner Daniel L. Galpin said.
It is not binding on the Houston County District Attorney's office, which will continue its investigation and may present the case to a grand jury, according to Assistant Houston County District Attorney Lisa Bullard.
GLASER UNDERWENT a dramatic personality change after he was shot Oct. 4 by a burglar in his home, witnesses testified Monday. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound employee of Robins Air Force Base was afraid to stay in his residence immediately after the incident, according to relatives. When he and his family did return, they all slept in the family room because Glaser was fearful of sleeping in the bedroom where he was shot, testimony showed.
Glaser and his wife, Dorothy, moved back into their own bedroom just two days before his death, Dorothy Glaser testified. The Glaser family had had a peeping Tom before the first shooting and had received obscene and threatening telephone calls before and after the incident, she said.
AFTER THE Oct. 4 shooting, Jerome Glaser had episodes of amnesia, disorientation, slow speech and reduced levels of consciousness, medical records showed.
The wound he received then was a glancing blow to the forehead, but could have caused brain damage even though the skull was not fractured, according to an expert witness hired by the family's attorney.
Dr. Michael J. Prewett, a clinical psychologist and head of the Division of Behavioral Sciences at Mercer University Medical School, testified that Glaser could have been diagnosed as having three different organic or emotional disorders as a result of the shooting. Glaser's bizarre behavior between the two shooting incidents was symptomatic of the disorders, Prewett said.
Withnesses, including Glaser's widow, testified that after the Oct. 4 shooting, Glaser purchased a .357-caliber Magnum handgun, which he always kept with him, even on shopping trips and when he attended the Houston County Fair.
He kept the weapon wrapped in the black jacket which was pierced by bullets during the first shooting, family members said.
DURING OCTOBER, Glaser sometimes did not recognize people and was easily startled, witnesses said. He had family members go through identification procedures before attempting to enter the residence because he said "he was real scared and he might end up shooting one of us," according to his 13-year-old- daughter, Jennifer Glaser.
One day Dorothy Glaser forgot to identify herself as she entered the house after grocery shopping and walked through the door to find her husband pointing the pistol at her, she testified.
"I screamed, dropped the groceries and fell in the floor," she said. After he apparently recognized her, Glaser put the gun down, apologized and started to cry, she said.
Glaser visited several doctors, including a neurosurgeon and a psychologist, but was not hospitalized and did not receive any medication for his problems, his wife said.
SHE GAVE this account of the events the day of her husband's death: Glaser was in bed when she returned from taking something to her son at school. She started to get into bed and pulled the sheet from his head to find him pointing the gun at her again. She screamed at him, and he kept asking her, "Who the hell are you and what are you going to do?"
She grabbed the gun in an effort to get it away from her husband and the two were wrestling over it when the weapon discharged. "He looked at me and said, 'I'm sorry.' He thought he'd shot me. Then he started breathing funny." She called the Houston County Sheriff's Department, who summoned police and an ambulance.
Glaser was taken to the Houston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the lower chest, testimony showed. Dr. James Q. Whittaker, the Houston County medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Glaser, testified that he listed the death as a homicide only because evidence showed Glaser did not commit suicide and another person was involved in the shooting. Family members, through attorney Ken Lucas, requested the corner's inquest, Galpin said.
- Written by Suzanne Carswell and appeared in the Macon Telegraph Tuesday December 31st 1985
Kathy Pinna 
