A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge has accepted an Arlington man’s plea agreement of not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder of nonprofit CEO Gret Glyer.
The decision finalized yesterday (Thursday) resulted in the formal acquittal of Joshua Danehower, who had been charged with one count each of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Instead of facing jail time, Danehower will be admitted to a psychiatric health facility indefinitely for treatment — an outcome Glyer’s family opposed.
“The system that claims to deliver justice has only furthered our trauma,” Gizan Glyer, the sister of Gret Glyer, said following the plea hearing.
Danehower, now 37, was accused of carrying out the June 2022 killing of Glyer, who was shot 10 times while he slept in bed at his family’s Bolton Village Court home in Fairfax City.
Glyer, who was 32 at the time of his death, founded DonorSee, a nonprofit “charitable giving platform” in 2016, and was serving as the organization’s CEO before his killing.
Prosecutors said in court that Danehower authored a written plan to carry out the murder, which developed from an infatuation with Glyer’s wife. That plan included details of Glyer’s location, lockpicking and an escape plan, among other notes.
Glyer’s family has long contended that the plan was proof of premediation. But after two doctors declared Danehower legally insane at the time of the murder, the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office believed it was unlikely to secure a conviction at trial.
Though prosecutors consulted with the family as required under law, they ultimately moved forward with the plea agreement against the family’s wishes.
“Based on the evidence that was introduced at the preliminary hearing, there’s no doubt about his conviction — there’s overwhelming evidence,” father Grid Glyer said. “Instead, he’ll never spend a day in prison, and we, the family, are the ones who’ve been sentenced for the rest of our lives.”
Under Virginia law, Danehower will have an annual hearing each of the next five years to reevaluate his mental state. After those five years, those hearings will be held every other year.
There is no set amount of time that Danehower is required to be in the custody of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Sciences, meaning that he could be released at any time with a favorable evaluation.
“I’m very concerned about what’s going to happen for the future, because those of us who were in the courtroom today saw someone who understood everything the judge asked him, answered those questions and did not get the impression of being insane,” Grid Glyer said. “I worry that he’s going to have a meeting with the doctors, and the doctors say, ‘looks fine to me,’ and he’s released.”
Members of the family expressed concern that Gret Glyer’s widow and children could be targets of Danehower if he is released.
“Every year we have to live in fear of his release if the doctors and lawyers on his case decide that he is safe to be returned to society,” Gizan Glyer said.
Danehower is currently slated to undergo further evaluations while in the state’s custody. A review hearing in his case, which will determine his immediate course of action, is scheduled to be held May 21.
