Marine's lover testifies at hearing on grenade attack

[thedrifter]

Marine's lover testifies at hearing on grenade attack

Both are accused of plotting to kill

By Liz Neely
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 1, 2003

Wendy M. Glass sat in a military courtroom yesterday, barely looking at the Marine who had been her lover for 18 months, the man with whom she is accused of plotting to kill her husband.

Glass, 33, glanced at Chief Warrant Officer Larry Framness only once, then closed her eyes and let out a breath. Appearing nervous, Glass spoke about her troubled marriage, her affair with Framness and the couple's plans to kill her husband, Chief Warrant Officer James H. Glass.

Wendy Glass was one of three people to testify yesterday during a hearing for Framness at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Framness, 36, is accused of attempted murder, adultery, assault and several related charges under the military justice system. The hearing will continue today before Maj. Michael Tencate, the investigating officer. He will make recommendations to Framness' commanding officer who then will decide whether to go to court-martial.

If convicted of the most serious charge, Framness could get life in prison. He and Wendy Glass have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Arizona and each is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Framness is being held in the brig at Miramar; Wendy Glass is living in Mississippi awaiting trial in Arizona.

Marine officials say Framness tried to kill James Glass with a grenade while both were deployed in Kuwait. Both men were in Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 in Yuma, Ariz., and were neighbors on the Yuma base.

Prosecutors contend the two wanted James Glass dead so they could collect a $350,000 life insurance policy.

Wendy Glass testified that she and Framness became close in October 2001 following the death of her mother. Distraught and alone, the two struck up a friendship.

"I needed someone to talk to, and we became good friends and it turned into something more," Wendy Glass testified.

Fed up with her husband's lack of attention to their 13-year marriage, Glass began an affair with Framness. The Glasses' relationship had been in jeopardy for a while, she said, and in the summer of 1999 she attempted suicide, partly because their marriage wasn't working.

At first, Framness and Wendy Glass only joked about James Glass' death, but by October 2002, the two were hatching a plan to kill him by faking a drunken-driving accident near Mount Laguna. They scouted remote locations where his car could go over a cliff, and they talked about slipping him "date rape" drugs Framness had purchased, she said.

But she couldn't go through with the plan, she testified. She said she had thought about leaving her husband but was afraid he would hurt her because he didn't want to be separated from their two young daughters. Despite a catching the two having sex in spring 2002, James Glass would never accept a divorce, she said.

Framness made a try months after he and James Glass had been deployed to Kuwait. At first, Wendy Glass said, she had hoped her husband would be killed while fighting in northern Iraq. But when that didn't happen, Framness devised another plan, Marine officials said.

He lured James Glass to an empty guard shack May 13, then threw a grenade in the hopes it would look like he was killed by a terrorist attack. James Glass suffered shrapnel wounds, but survived. He is expected to testify today.

Special Agent Eric Powers, an investigator with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Yuma, interviewed Wendy Glass days after the attack. Among the evidence seized from the Glasses' home were e-mails between Framness and Wendy Glass, as well as scraps of paper from a backyard grill that bore Framness' name.

Powers testified that Wendy Glass had tried to get an additional $50,000 coverage on her husband's life insurance policy, of which she was the sole beneficiary.

Under questioning from Framness' civilian defense attorney, Jeremiah Sullivan, Powers denied the government promised Wendy Glass a deal in exchange for her testimony. But later, under questioning from Capt. Sean Smith, a military defense attorney for Framness, Wendy Glass conceded that she had hoped her testimony would lessen her prison sentence if she is convicted.

Before Wendy Glass' testimony, Sullivan characterized her as a manipulator who had several flings with other men, and he insinuated she masterminded the plot to kill her husband.



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Liz Neely: (760) 476-8239; liz.neely@uniontrib.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...1framness.html


Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Marine testifies about wife's role in supposed murder plot

SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES
6:16 p.m., August 1, 2003

MIRAMAR ? A Marine expressed doubt today whether his wife really intended to go through with a supposed plot with her lover to kill him last fall.

"If she had wanted me dead that night, I wouldn't be here," said Chief Warrant Officer James Houston Glass, 38, referring to an alleged November attempt to kill him.

Since then, there has been another alleged attempt on his life, this one in Kuwait this year.

Chief Warrant Officer Larry A. Framness, 36, is accused of trying to kill Glass by tossing a live grenade into a tent in Kuwait on May 13.

He also is accused of helping Wendy Glass come up with a plan last year to get her husband drunk, drug him, put him in a truck and push it off a cliff at Mount Laguna.

The would-be victim has been testifying at a military hearing to determine if Framness should be court-martialed on allegations of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, dereliction of duty, adultery, assault and reckless endangerment. The hearing continues Monday.

Framness and the woman also are under federal indictment in Arizona on conspiracy charges, and for the alleged grenade attack on Glass.

Framness and the Glasses were neighbors in Yuma, Ariz. Both men were stationed at the Marine Wing Support Squadron 371.

Wendy Glass testified yesterday that she and Framness were lovers from November 2001 until he and her husband were deployed to Kuwait in February of this year.

Though James testified that he knew base officials in Yuma investigated rumors of an affair between Framness and Wendy, he did not believe she was cheating on him until he came home early one day and found them in his bedroom.

"I was furious and I wanted to kill him, so I left," James testified.

Believing it was a one-time incident, James told the court, he vowed to work on his marriage. Months later, in August 2002, he was deployed to Kuwait.

James said he did not report Wendy's adultery to base officials, partly because he wanted to spare his wife the shame and embarrassment.

"That is something I'll live with as long as I live," he said. By the time he returned from a Kuwait tour last November, the prosecution contends, his wife had hatched a plan with Framness to lure him to Mount Laguna, where she planned to get him drunk and drug him.

Wendy and her lover then planned to put James behind the wheel of his vehicle and push it off a cliff, to make it look as though he drove off in a drunken stupor, testified Eric Powers, a special agent with Naval Criminal Investigative Services.

James Glass told the court he could barely stand up the night of Nov. 23, and fell out of the truck when his wife pulled up to the cabin. "Anyone could have come right up to me," said Glass. He told the court he blamed himself for his wife's behavior.

"I was kind of unloading stuff on her," he said. "I was not a very nice person during those times." When asked by a defense attorney if he had talked to his wife about the incidents in question, and her admission that she did talk with Framness about killing him, Glass said his wife explained it.

"She said that the planning ... seemed like a game to her," he said. "She said she never had any intention of carrying it through." In the Kuwait incident, Glass said he suffered shrapnel wounds in his back, neck, shoulder, wrist and legs.

He said he was lured to a shack by Framness, who told him he needed him to help mediate an argument between two Marines.

When his wife called at the same time to talk about his beloved truck, Glass said he thought nothing of it and stepped outside to follow Framness.

"I had no idea that one of my fellow Marines was trying to kill me," he said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...rinetrial.html


Sempers,

Roger