A Collin County grand jury on Sept. 26 declined to indict Lindsey Glass, the Plano bartender who served Spencer Hight drinks the night he killed eight people in September 2017, including his estranged wife, according to a Monday night statement from Glass' attorneys.
Glass could have been indicted on a misdemeanor charge of selling alcohol to certain persons. Two hours after she served Hight at the Local Public House in 2017, he had killed his estranged wife and seven of their friends at a house in Plano. Hight was killed by police at the scene. It was the worst shooting in Plano's history.
Glass was arrested more than a year and a half after the shooting on a charge of alcohol sales to a certain person under the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code 101.63B. According to documents, Hight left the bar with an alcohol concentration of .33, more than four times the legal limit.
According to the law, a person is charged with this offense when they sell "an alcoholic beverage to a habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person." The charge carries a fine of up to $500 and or up to a year in jail.
"We want to commend the Collin County District Attorney’s Office for making the decision to present the case to the Collin County Grand Jury," Glass' attorneys Scott Palmer and Rebekah Perlstein wrote in a Monday night statement. "After hearing from both sides, the Grand Jury no-billed the case, indicating that no criminal charges would move forward. We believe that justice has been done.
"While Lindsey is relieved by the Grand Jury’s decision, it has been our position from the outset that Spencer Hight’s decision to destroy the lives of eight people was wholly unrelated to the four drinks that Hight consumed at the Local Public House on September 10, 2017. The video evidence that is available indicates that Lindsey was not watching Spencer at all times and that some of the odd behavior that is cited did not take place within her view. Additionally, once Lindsey recognized that Spencer was intoxicated and acting strangely, she alerted her manager and the two confronted him outside the bar. She then took extraordinary steps to follow Hight and alert authorities. Lindsey Glass is a bartender who did what she was supposed to do--she saw something and she said something.
"The fact that after nearly 19 months, the Plano Police Department arrested and jailed Lindsey based on these allegations was a last ditch effort to hold someone responsible. Attempting to prosecute those who call the authorities in times of trouble is not what we want from our police departments.
"Lindsey was the first person to alert police to Mr. Hight’s presence at the home, and in doing so risked her life trying to do the right thing."