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Click Here 43 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, January 30, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend January 17, 2004 Susie Bright, left, mother of Ron Glick, and Cynthia Dotson, mother of Ron�s wife Dawn, talk to reporters outside the courtroom Friday following Ron Glick�s sentencing. Glick is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of his wife. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven ‘We lost everything’ Glick gets 25-to-life for murdering wife; devastated family tries to regroup By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Despite pleas for a lighter sentence on behalf his two children, Ron Glick will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his wife. After hearing from a family who loved both Dawn Glick and her murderer, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Mejia passed the sentence Friday. Ron Glick, 36, will spend at least 25 years in prison before being considered for parole. Glick entered a plea of "no contest" to the charge of murder last week, a decision made to protect his 8-year-old daughter from taking the stand, according to family and defense attorneys. While not a witness to the murder, the girl could have testified for both the prosecution and defense in Glick’s March 9 trial, said Beth Heckert, chief deputy district attorney for Jackson County. Although the mothers of Ron and Dawn Glick sat divided by the courtroom’s center aisle, Susie Bright and her sister-in-law Cynthia Dotson, wept in each other’s embrace after hearing the sentence and left the courtroom arm in arm. Advertisement "We lost everything," Bright said as she and Dotson hugged, adding that she didn’t want anything to happen between them for the children’s sake. Glick’s children did not attend the sentencing. Bright, who has custody of the Glicks daughter and 4-year-old son, has said she looked on Dawn as her own daughter. Dotson and her late husband — Bright’s brother — adopted Dawn after her own parents were murdered in California when she was 8 years old. Twenty years later, Dawn’s children would bear a similar burden. "I just feel so torn here," Bright said as she told Mejia the story of the Glicks’ relationship — a happy marriage that had somehow gone terribly bad. "We didn’t realize he had gotten to that place," Bright said. But prosecutor Beth Heckert told the court Friday that Glick predicted with chilling detail how he would kill Dawn weeks before the March morning police would find her strangled to death in her bedroom closet. It was the day a judge could have made the couple’s divorce final. "I think really what this case boils down to is manipulation and control," Heckert said. Prohibited by a restraining order from seeing Dawn, Glick used e-mail and cell phone text messages to terrorize her, Heckert said. A text message reading "can’t wait to touch you again" showed up on Dawn’s phone four days before her death, Heckert said. The message was quickly followed by "soon" and a profanity, she added. Several weeks before, Ron Glick had told a co-worker that he couldn’t wait to wrap his hands around Dawn’s neck and watch the life drain out of her, Heckert told the court. The night before Dawn’s death, Glick asked a friend how he could jimmy a door using a credit card. He also told a friend to stand up for him if she should read in the next day’s newspaper that he had been arrested for Dawn’s murder. Glick’s attorneys admitted that the e-mails and text messages "weren’t nice," but argued that Glick went to Dawn’s Spring Street house the morning of March 10 to take one more shot at reconciliation. After sending their then-3-year-old son to play in the backyard, the Glicks got into an argument. Ron put his hands on Dawn and blacked out before coming to and realizing he had killed her, said defense attorney Joseph Maier. When Glick heard his son coming in, he stashed Dawn’s body in her closet. He then took the boy to his house where he packed a bag, throwing in a gun, and drove to his mother’s home outside of Ashland. Glick’s true intent was to end his own life, Maier said. "If he had planned this, it wouldn’t have happened like this," Maier said. Bright convinced her son not to kill himself, and the family called police, asking that officers check on Dawn. Ron was arrested at Bright’s home and has remained in jail since. "I see this too often," Mejia said. "... What I’m talking about is love that’s gone bad. "What too many people don’t realize is you can’t force another person to love you." Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? 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