Man gets three years for trying to provide alcohol to minors

A Polson man who admitted providing alcohol to a 15-year-old girl who later died was sentenced to eight years last week, with five suspended, after his probation officer caught him trying to buy beer for a minor last summer.

Jimmy Justin Glass was given a three-year deferred sentence last December in connection with his Alford plea in the death of Natosha Burland, who passed out and died sometime during the night of Dec. 5, 2002 after drinking with Glass and two other friends all evening. Under the Alford plea, Glass acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him, but didn't make an admission of guilt.

Glass has violated the terms of his probation several times during the year, according to court documents, including testing positive for marijuana use, but was caught red-handed when his probation officer happened to see him buying beer at a gas station in Ronan - itself a violation.

In a handwritten statement, Glass acknowledged that a minor had asked him to buy the beer. He was sentenced to eight years, with five suspended, by District Judge C.B. McNeil last Wednes-day, Nov. 10.

Burland's lifeless body was taken to St. Luke's hospital in Ronan the next morning, after she passed out and remained in a van all night while Glass and other friends drank at a house party. In a plea agreement, Glass acknowledged buying some of the whiskey that Burland consumed that night.

Glass spent 235 days in jail on the original felony criminal endangerment charge. He had originally faced charges of sexual assault, but those charges were dropped after a witness recanted her story and DNA evidence exonerated him.

Glass could serve his time in a prison alternative, such as a halfway house.