Court rejects killer’s claim of insanity

By Cy Ryan (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 | 3:48 p.m.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected the petition of killer Jeffrie R. Glover, who claims he was insane when he pumped nine bullets into his estranged wife in Nye County.

Glover, now 40 and at the state prison in Ely, pleaded guilty to the murder of Christine Thorsen and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

He claimed his lawyer was ineffective for failing to investigate insanity as a possible defense. Glover said he was raised in an abusive environment and that 10 years before the murder he watched two of his children die in a house fire.

In rejecting the petition, the court said the evidence showed Glover “carefully planned the attack on his wife over the course of the weekend of the murder” in December 2005. It said Glover “tried to create a fairly elaborate alibi” and he failed to show he suffered from delusions when he shot his wife with a .22 caliber rifle.

The court did permit Glover to pursue his claim in district court to determine if Glover was deprived of his right to his initial appeal after his conviction. The case before the court Tuesday was a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.