‘There were no good Samaritans’ – Jonathan Glennon awaits his fate on Murder One charges

By Wendy Post —

“There were no good Samaritans; there were a lot of people who could have and should have done something morally, but did nothing to prevent what happened,” said the defense attorney for 34-year old Jonathan Glennon on Thursday, during the start of closing arguments in this month-long Murder One trial.

Glennon is one of over a dozen indicted and then charged in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of 34-year-old Thomas Rath in May 2023. Glennon is one of three who stood trial for first-degree Murder. Joseph Howell and Angelo Baez have already been tried and convicted of that same charge in this case.

Rath, who had fallen on hard times, was kidnapped from an area known as “The Jungle” in Ithaca, New York. His body was found in a shallow grave on Ekroos Road in Candor, New York. 

During the period from May 20 to May 21, 2023, Rath was brutally beaten and tortured, with many people participating in the action, orchestrating things, and then running from the fallout when Robert Hines led police to Rath’s body in August 2023.

Now, things are nearing a conclusion as the prosecution and the defense in this case began delivering closing arguments on Feb. 19.

With a packed courtroom of family members of Thomas Rath, others, general spectators of the trial, and a host of investigators who had worked on the case, the arguments began with the defense team representing 34-year old Jonathan Glennon, on trial for first and second degree murder and kidnapping in this case. 

“Who is criminally responsible,” Keith Dayton, one of Glennon’s defense attorneys, asked the jury.

He referenced “The Gang of the Jungle,” and Bonnie and Clyde when characterizing Joseph Howell and Colleen Dillon as shot-callers. The muscle – Baez, whom he characterized as the henchman. The fixer, whom he identified as David Maycumber, the problem solver and weapons expert. The cleaner – Robert Hines, after the fact.

And then there was Glennon, a guy who was down on his luck, taken advantage of, and he was the fall guy, the attorney explained to the jury.

“He had no mindset and no intent to commit this crime,” said Dayton.

He then continued, “We know my client was in the garage,” and further argued that his client wasn’t the trigger man, as portrayed by the prosecution, and that the witnesses in this case were nothing but that “Gang of the Jungle” he referenced.

The defense spent a lot of time pointing blame at David Maycumber and Robert Hines, two others tied to the investigations, and insisted that the prosecution failed to prove its case.

The defense claimed there was no DNA or physical evidence pointing to Glennon being a triggerman in Rath’s eventual death. 

As for the torture component, inflicted at the home on Benjamin Hill Road—a home where Glennon, Colleen Dillon and Joseph Howell were residing—the defense admitted Glennon was in the garage but argued there is no proof he was involved in what happened to a bloodied and injured Rath.

“There was no evidence that Jonathan Glennon inflicted pain on Rath, that he relished it,” said Dayton.  

“Due to the lack of evidence presented,” the defense continued, “I don’t believe it’s enough,” and he thanked the jurors.

The prosecution argued its case, with Tioga County District Attorney Kirk Martin presenting.

One thing that the district attorney addressed to the jury several times is that either all the witnesses are telling the truth and Glennon is lying, or they are all lying and Glennon is telling the truth – it can’t be both.

He first played, for the jury, a voice transcript of Jonathan Glennon talking to someone about the violation of Rath in the garage and the use of a dowel.

With that, DA Martin stated to the jury, “Let’s not forget why we are here.”

“While you may not have all the pieces—like videos from the Benjamin Hill Road garage, the truck, or Ekroos Road—the fact is that Glennon was there,” Martin continued.

As part of the district attorney’s argument, the testimony of Colleen Dillon and Robert Hines puts Glennon in the truck, offering eyewitness testimony.

As for the “Gang of the Jungle” or the thug group, as the defense referred to the witnesses in this case, the district attorney reminded everyone that those were Glennon’s own friends.

As for witness credibility, the prosecution admitted to the jury that they [the witnesses] are flawed and added, “People in those situations don’t have ‘angels’ as witnesses.”

He then told the jury that of many of the witnesses presented, “They admitted their flaws, and they owned their mistakes.”

Many of those witnesses, he added, received sentences, albeit reduced by the cooperation agreement; some are sitting behind bars.

“Their only requirement is to tell the truth,” the district attorney stated.

The prosecution then cited testimony given in which Glennon had previously beaten up Rath. Witness testimony during the trial talked of the altercation, with a witness telling how Rath pleaded, “Johnny, why are you doing this to me.” 

And although Glennon was not in the jungle on May 20, 2023 when Rath disappeared, he was at Benjamin Hill Road, where hours of torture took place in the garage later that day.

The district attorney, addressing the jury, stated, “He watched Thomas in the garage, they poured gasoline on him, and there was blood.”

Further characterizing the testimony, the district attorney continued, exclaiming, “Thomas Rath was in the back of the truck with Glennon, where he was telling Rath to shut the [expletive removed] up.”

For the jury, the prosecution noted that Glennon walked out of the last place Rath was seen with him – at the home of Steven Park in Brooktondale, and that it was Glennon and Angelo Baez, already convicted on similar charges, who shot him.

Regarding the defense’s argument about the DNA evidence (or lack thereof), the prosecution argued that even the DNA of Robert Hines, the truck’s owner, was not discovered in the vehicle that drove Rath to his death on Ekroos Road. He noted that the truck wasn’t tested until August, months after Thomas Rath had gone missing.

The same held true for the DNA testing of the guns, as they were cleaned and wiped; one was never found. The car belonging to Kysha Radcliff, who ended up with kidnapping charges in this case, wasn’t tested until months later as well.

As far as the torture that is a component of Murder One, the district attorney argued the defense theory that Glennon was in the garage on Benjamin Hill Road but wasn’t participating.

“He was either in the garage or he wasn’t,” said District Attorney Martin to the jury.

The district attorney summed things up in his closing arguments, stating, “Justice is not done until all of those involved are held to account.”

Following instructions rendered by Tioga County Judge Adam Schumacher, the 12-member jury went into deliberations at 2:35 p.m. to determine if 34-year old Jonathan Glennon is guilty or innocent of the charges.

Court adjourned at 4:35, with jury deliberations continuing on Friday morning at the Tioga County Courthouse in Owego.

(Scott Armstrong contributed to this report.)