The family of Gret Glyer, a Fairfax City nonprofit leader who was fatally shot in his home in 2022, vehemently opposes a potential insanity-based resolution in the case, saying it would deny accountability and prevent a public examination of the evidence.
Glyer, founder and chief executive officer of the DonorSee Foundation, was killed during the early morning hours of June 24, 2022, inside his Fairfax City home. Police report said Glyer was shot multiple times while asleep in bed beside his wife. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife and children, who were also in the home, were not physically harmed.
Joshua Danehower, of Arlington, Virginia, was later arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the killing. According to the Glyer family, no additional charges were filed in the case. The family has said the decision to proceed with a single charge has heightened their concern about how the case may ultimately be resolved. They argue that additional charges often pursued in homicide cases — including firearm-related offenses or higher-degree murder charges when evidence supports them — can affect sentencing outcomes and accountability, and they continue to urge that the case be heard by a jury.
The prosecution has remained pending in Fairfax County Circuit Court for more than three years, with repeated continuances. Defense-ordered psychological assessments were completed several months ago, the family says, and recent delays have been attributed to the prosecution’s internal review rather than new defense evaluations.
For much of the case, Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan served as lead prosecutor. The family says they were getting nowhere with Clingan and were recently informed that he was temporarily removed from leading the case after the possibility of an insanity plea emerged, and that Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands is now advising the prosecution on next steps.
According to the family, prosecutors told them that if the case were proceeding to a full jury trial, Clingan would need to return to lead the prosecution, but that Sands has taken over because of the potential insanity-plea path.
Incidentally, Clingan was the subject of recent media reporting. In August 2025, Fairfax County police cited Clingan for drinking in public, a misdemeanor offense, after officers responded to a call behind a Centreville shopping center. Body-camera footage released by the WJLA I-Team shows officers driving Clingan home without a breathalyzer test and ultimately issuing a summons.
According to WJLA I-Team, Clingan’s case was ultimately dismissed in General District Court on October 10, 2025. A Fairfax County Police spokesperson said Clingan had completed the necessary court requirements to have the charge dropped.
The Glyer family says they were told recently that Clingan was placed on leave to address a personal matter following that incident, and that Sands assumed a larger role in the Glyer case as a result.
At the center of the dispute is a psychiatric evaluation conducted in the case. Family members say Sands has advised against taking the case to trial largely because she does not want to contradict the conclusions of the prosecution’s own expert, even though, according to the family, Virginia law still permits the case to be tried before a jury.
The family says the psychiatrist has indicated privately that his reports are not meant to be decisive in determining whether a case goes to trial and that final outcomes are typically shaped by broader legal considerations. They also say the psychiatrist is often retained by defense teams and tends to favor findings of legal insanity and rehabilitation rather than incarceration.
The same psychiatrist, Dr. Eric Drogin’s work has drawn recent attention in another Virginia case. People magazine reported that the same psychiatrist issued the evaluation that led a judge to accept a not guilty by reason of insanity plea in the case of a mother whose 2-year-old child died after ingesting toxic levels of Benadryl. In that case, the plea was accepted despite objections from the child’s father, and the defendant was committed for psychiatric treatment rather than sentenced to prison.
The Glyer family says the psychiatrist’s involvement in both cases has heightened their concern that a single expert opinion is being given outsized weight in deciding whether their case will ever be heard publicly by a jury.
Under Virginia law, a defendant found not guilty by reason of insanity is not convicted of a crime. Instead, the court determines whether the individual should be committed to a state psychiatric hospital for treatment and supervision.
Such commitment can be indefinite and may, in some cases, last longer than a traditional prison sentence. However, decisions about continued confinement are based on periodic evaluations of the individual’s mental condition and perceived risk to the public, rather than a fixed term imposed by a jury.
The Glyer family says this framework, while appropriate in some cases, is not suited to what they describe as a calculated and violent act, and that an insanity plea would limit transparency and public accountability.
“This was a calculated and violent act,” said Gizan Glyer, the victim’s sister and spokesperson for the Glyer family. “We believe a jury should hear the facts and determine accountability.”
A court hearing currently scheduled for January 23 was initially listed as a status hearing. However, Glyer shared that the family was told during an in-person meeting with prosecutors that the hearing could instead become a plea hearing, depending on whether the psychiatrist submits a required report to the court by a January 15 deadline.
The prolonged legal process has taken a significant emotional toll on Glyer’s family and supporters, who remember Gret as a devoted husband, father, and community leader whose work through the DonorSee Foundation connected donors directly with people in need around the world.
As the case moves forward, the family continues to call for a public trial and greater transparency, while prosecutors have stated that determinations regarding legal insanity involve complex standards and expert review and that no final decision has yet been announced.
