Billy Richard GLAZE

AKA "Butcher Knife Billy" - "Jesse Sitting Crow"

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape
Number of victims: 3 +
Date of murders: 1986 - 1987
Date of arrest: August 31, 1987
Date of birth: July 13, 1944
Victims profile: Kathleen Bullman; Angeline Whitebird Sweet; and Angela Green (Native American women)
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesotta, USA
Status: Sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment on February 14, 1989

Billy Richard Glaze (aka. Jesse Sitting Crow) is a Minnesotan serial killer, convicted of killing three women and currently under investigation for the murder of a fourth. He was a Native American who believed that all native women should be raped and killed.

Glaze was suspected of the murders of at least 50 women in multiple states.

He has boasted to police about having killed over twenty women, but in interviews has claimed he is innocent. Glaze was arrested August 31, 1987 while drunk driving, for a violation of his parole from a rape in 1974. The arresting officers found a bloody shirt, crowbar and nightstick in his truck. Hair samples from the crowbar were used to convict him of murder.

Wikipedia.org

Minneapolis PD looks at 1980's serial killer for an unsolved murder

May 31, 2008

Minneapolis police are investigating whether a murder case that went cold more than 20 years ago is linked to notorious serial killer Billy Glaze.

Glaze was convicted of killing three Minneapolis women in the 1980s. He's currently serving three consecutive life sentences in an out-of-state prison.

In a prison interview with former KARE 11 reporter Bernie Grace in 1987, Glaze claimed he was innocent.

Could cold case be linked to Minn. serial killer?

Nicole Muehlhausen - KAALtv.com

05/29/2008

Evidence in a case that has left police stumped for nearly 22 years is being tested to see if one of Minnesota's most notorious serial killers is connected to the crime.

DNA taken from serial killer Billy Glaze is sitting at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s crime lab, waiting to be compared to evidence from Sharon Ann Lingor’s murder.

"They framed me because I ain't the serial killer," stated Glaze in 1996. "Give me a lie detector test or anything to prove I didn't do it."

He is serving six life terms for killing three women in Minneapolis in the 1980’s—Kathleen Bullman, Angeline Whitebird, and Angela Green.

All of the victims were American Indian and were lured from bars.

Twin Cities American Indian leader Clyde Bellecourt remembers the paranoia in the community after the murders. He said he sat in the courtroom during part of Glaze’s trials.

Glaze even sent Bellecourt a letter after his conviction, maintaining his innocence and asking for help. Bellecourt told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he never wrote back.

"The evidence that was presented and everything that was heard in the courtroom really pointed to him as a predator," Bellecourt said.

Now after two decades in prison, the 63-year-old is changing his tune. A search warrant filed by Minneapolis Police on Wednesday, reveals Glaze boasted to Los Angeles investigators in 2004 that he’s behind over 20 homicides.

In 2007, Minneapolis detectives re-opened Lingor’s case. She was killed on September 6, 1986 in Minneapolis. BCA experts will see if DNA left at the scene matches Glaze.

The Minneapolis homicide commander stresses this is just one investigative lead. Glaze has been incarcerated in prison out of state since 1989.

DNA links sought between killer, 1986 death

May 28, 2008 - StarTribune.com

Minneapolis police are hoping to use DNA testing to tie a serial killer serving life in prison to the 1986 homicide of a Minneapolis woman.

In a search warrant filed last week, Minneapolis police detectives hope to cross-check the DNA of Billy Glaze, 63, with DNA taken from the body of Sharon Ann Lingor after her slaying in September 1986. Lingor, 37, was found lying across the railroad tracks near 29th Street and Columbus Avenue S. She had been stabbed repeatedly and sexually assaulted.

According to the search warrant, investigators found similarities between Lingor's killing and that of a 1987 murder for which Glaze was convicted, as well as two others. In that killing, the female victim was also found near railroad tracks about a block from where Lingor was discovered.

Lingor was also seen at Mr. Arts bar the night before her death, a bar that Glaze was known to frequent, the warrant said.

In a 2004 interview with Los Angeles Police Department investigators, Glaze admitted to committing more than 20 homicides and that he met many of his victims in bars.

Glaze, a drifter, was convicted of killing three women in Minneapolis in 1986 and 1987. He was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison.

986 F.2d 1192

Billy Richard GLAZE, Appellant,
v.
Walter W. REDMAN, Warden, Delaware Correctional Center,
Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Attorney General, State
of Minnesota, Appellees.

No. 92-1751.

United States Court of Appeals,
Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 16, 1992.
Decided Feb. 25, 1993.

Billy Richard Glaze appeals a final order entered in the United States District Court1 for the District of Minnesota denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Glaze v. Redman, No. 3-90-447, slip op. at 5 (D.Minn. Mar. 19, 1992) (order). For reversal Glaze argues that the exclusion of exculpatory evidence denied him due process. For the reasons discuss below, we affirm the order of the district court.

BACKGROUND

Glaze was convicted the murders of three Native American women in 1986 and 1987: Kathleen Bullman on July 27, 1986; Angeline Whitebird Sweet on April 12, 1987; and Angela Green on April 29, 1987.

The facts of the crimes are recounted in detail in the state supreme court's opinion and are briefly summarized here only as they pertain to Glaze's habeas petition. See State v. Glaze, 452 N.W.2d 655, 656-59 (Minn.1990) (Glaze ).

According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and Minneapolis police investigators, the three murders were committed by one individual. This conclusion was based on the marked similarities among the victims and the crime scenes.

The murders were close in time sequence. Each victim was a young adult Native American female mother of young children. Each victim was commonly alone on the streets at night, frequented the same type of bars, and suffered from alcoholism. Each murder occurred in a location frequented by transients.

Each victim was bludgeoned and beaten about the head and face. The mouth and face of each victim were focal points of trauma. Each victim had a stick thrust into her vagina at or near the time of death. In each case, the stick was left in the vagina. None of the victims, however, had any injury to their external genitalia. Each victim was left nude or almost nude. Finally, each body was posed in a degrading manner.

Soon after Green's murder, a Minneapolis police task force investigating the murders learned that a man who was later identified as Glaze might be a suspect. During the investigation, Lois Morrison, Glaze's girlfriend, told police that Glaze had left Minnesota and was now living in New Mexico. New Mexico authorities were notified of the investigation and Glaze was arrested in Albuquerque for an unrelated charge.

On May 24, 1987, Glaze was returned to Minnesota where he voluntarily submitted hair, blood and saliva samples to investigators for testing. Glaze was charged with three counts of premeditated murder in the first degree and three counts of first degree murder during a sexual assault.

During the course of the trial the state presented significant evidence that tied Glaze to the murders. According to several witnesses, Glaze frequently made derogatory comments about Native American women and his desire to sexually assault them with sticks, knives and other objects; three witnesses testified that not only did Glaze know each of the victims, but that they had seen Glaze with each victim shortly before she was killed.

Leroy Hamblin testified that he saw Glaze murder Bullman on July 27, 1987. Kevin Broen testified that he saw Glaze near the scene of Green's murder on April 29, 1987. Flint Burnside testified that he walked Green to a bar the night she was murdered and he observed that she had rings on her fingers; Glaze gave Morrison a pearl ring that was identified as very similar to a ring that Green was believed to have been wearing at the time of her murder; tennis shoe prints on the sand next to Green's body were similar to shoes that Glaze had recently bought at K-Mart.

While in jail Glaze reacted to the police chief's remark that the murderer of the victims should be found and executed by telling another inmate that he wanted to confess to the murders, but that he was afraid that he would be executed. Another inmate testified that Glaze told him that "I can't believe I killed them. I killed them with my hands."

Later, that same inmate wrote a note to Glaze telling him not to "let anyone know about your case like that." Glaze returned the note after he had written on it "don't let anyone hear you, but not let anyone know, I killed them. I was mad at them." Glaze left the state shortly after the murder investigation started focusing on him and instructed Morrison not to tell anyone where he had gone.

On February 10, 1989, a jury convicted Glaze of three counts of first degree murder during a sexual assault and three counts of the lesser-included offense of second degree intentional murder. He was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment. On March 16, 1990, the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed his convictions. Glaze, 452 N.W.2d at 662.

Glaze exhausted his available state remedies and filed a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court, which referred the matter to a magistrate judge.2 On March 16, 1992, the district court adopted the magistrate judge's recommendation and report3 and denied Glaze's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

As a preliminary matter we note that this court's power to review state convictions is limited and habeas relief will only be granted "where errors of constitutional magnitude have occurred." Carter v. Armontrout, 929 F.2d 1294, 1296 (8th Cir.1991). For a petitioner to succeed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, he or she must establish that the alleged error effectively rendered the entire trial fundamentally unfair and that absent the error, the outcome of the trial would probably have been different. Newlon v. Armontrout, 885 F.2d 1328, 1336 (8th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 497 U.S. 1038, 110 S.Ct. 3301, 111 L.Ed.2d 810 (1990).

"Federal courts are not forums in which to relitigate state trials." Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 887, 103 S.Ct. 3383, 3392, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1983). Questions of admissibility of evidence in state trials are matters of state law and ordinarily are not grounds for federal habeas relief. Manning-El v. Wyrick, 738 F.2d 321, 322 (8th Cir.) (Manning-El ), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 919, 105 S.Ct. 298, 83 L.Ed.2d 233 (1984).

In reviewing a federal habeas petition we examine "the totality of the facts in the case pending before [us] and analyze the fairness of the particular trial under consideration." Maggitt v. Wyrick, 533 F.2d 383, 385 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 898, 97 S.Ct. 264, 50 L.Ed.2d 183 (1976). However, we do not sit to correct errors of fact, but to ensure that individuals are not imprisoned in violation of the Constitution. Herrera v. Collins, --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 853, 855, 122 L.Ed.2d 203 (1993).

II.

Glaze argues that he was denied due process of law because on three separate occasions during the course of the trial he was precluded from introducing evidence that the murders had been committed by a person or persons other than him. Glaze contends that the excluded evidence tended to show that Michael Cooper murdered Green.

Specifically, Glaze argues that the excluded evidence showed that: (1) Cooper wore a black baseball cap with a "Coors" logo that was similar to a cap found at the murder scene, (2) Green had told others that Cooper had raped her at knife point six months prior to the murder and a knife was found at the murder scene, and (3) Green had given her sister a list of people she feared and Cooper was on the list. The state, however, argues that Glaze has not shown that the exclusion of the Cooper evidence rendered the entire trial fundamentally unfair. We agree.

"[a] state court's interpretation of state law is binding upon a federal court in a habeas proceeding." Williamson v. Jones, 936 F.2d 1000, 1004 (8th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 901, 116 L.Ed.2d 802 (1992). The Minnesota Supreme Court held that the Cooper evidence was admissible on the issue of the identity of the person who murdered Green. Glaze, 452 N.W.2d at 661. "[W]here the issue is whether in fact the defendant killed the deceased, evidence tending to prove that another person did the killing is admissible. The purpose of evidence to show that another committed the homicide is not to prove the guilt of the other person, but to generate a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the defendant." State v. Hawkins, 260 N.W.2d 150, 158-59 (Minn.1977) (Hawkins ).

However, the state supreme court held that the error was harmless because there was overwhelming evidence of Glaze's guilt. Glaze, 452 N.W.2d at 661.

In addition, the state supreme court held that the Cooper evidence had not been completely excluded because the jury heard that Green had a pimp who wore a "Coors" cap and that a similar cap was found at the murder scene. Id. The court also noted that while an attorney's comments are not evidence, defense counsel in his closing statement told the jury that Green was afraid of someone. Id.

We have carefully reviewed the record and hold that the additional evidence on Cooper would not have produced a different verdict and thus its exclusion did not deny Glaze due process. As noted by the state supreme court, there was overwhelming evidence of Glaze's guilt, including multiple inculpatory statements, and the evidence about Cooper was not completely excluded from the jury.

III.

Glaze next argues that he was denied due process because he was precluded from introducing into evidence a confession by another person that he had committed the murders. Kenneth Alexander, an inmate at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Lino Lakes, called defense counsel during trial. Alexander told defense counsel that in April of 1987, he had been "shooting dope" with a person named Kerry Haukw.4

According to Alexander, Haukw confessed to him that he was the one that the police were investigating in connection with the murders of the Native American women. Glaze argues that the state court erred in excluding this evidence as inadmissible hearsay because Minnesota law allows the introduction of such evidence as a statement against interest if corroborated.

Glaze also contends that the state trial court violated his due process rights by not allowing him a continuance to locate prostitutes who would have testified that Haukw had previously placed gun barrels in their vaginas, in a manner similar to the objects found in the vaginas of the three victims.

The state argues that the state trial court correctly excluded evidence of the Haukw statement because it was inadmissible hearsay. The state contends that Glaze failed to offer any independent corroborating evidence as required by Minnesota law.

As stated above, the admissibility of evidence at trial is a matter of state law and will not form the basis for habeas relief unless an evidentiary ruling infringes on an individual's constitutional protections. Manning-El, 738 F.2d at 322. Minnesota law allows for the admission of a statement against interest but only if the statement is corroborated in a way that demonstrates the trustworthiness and credibility of the alleged statement. State v. Higginbotham, 298 Minn. 1, 212 N.W.2d 881, 883 (1973) (Higginbotham ).

The state courts found the statements unreliable and excluded them. Therefore, we hold that the exclusion of the statement by Haukw neither infringed on any constitutional right nor did it violate Glaze's due process rights because the excluded evidence did not negate any of the crucial facts that ultimately convicted Glaze.

IV.

Finally, Glaze argues that he was denied due process because he was precluded from presenting evidence of a statement by one Phillip Foy, whose whereabouts were unknown at the time of trial, regarding a fight between Sweet and Joe Foster the night that she was killed. Glaze contends that the state trial court should have admitted such testimony because the alleged fight was admissible under Hawkins as tending to prove that another person had a motive for murdering Sweet.

The state contends that the state trial court correctly excluded the alleged statement as hearsay. We agree. "Out-of-court statements are ... excluded because they lack the conventional indicial of reliability: they are usually not made under oath or other circumstances that impress the speaker with the solemnity of his statements; the declarant's word is not subject to cross-examination; and he is not available in order that his demeanor and credibility may be assessed by the jury." Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 298, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 1047, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973), citing, California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 158, 90 S.Ct. 1930, 1935, 26 L.Ed.2d 489 (1970).

In view of the evidence of guilt, the lack of reliability of the excluded evidence and the conduct of the entire trial, we hold that the district court correctly found that the questions presented here do not rise to the level of constitutional dimension.

Accordingly, the order of the district court denying Glaze's habeas petition is affirmed.

*****

The Honorable Robert G. Renner, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota

Honorable J. Earl Cudd, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota

In his habeas petition Glaze alleged that: he was precluded from presenting an effective defense because the state trial court excluded exculpatory evidence, including an admission by a third party; he was denied due process when the state trial court refused to admit expert testimony of an eyewitness identifications: and the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to sustain his convictions. On April 10, 1991, the magistrate judge found the claims to be without merit and recommended that the petition for writ of habeas corpus be denied

According to the state, Kerry Haukw was killed in a shoot-out with police in September 1987