San Diego
The operator of a halfway house for state prisoners has pleaded innocent to charges that he attempted to kill his former wife. Glen Cornist, 47, entered his plea Monday before Superior Court Judge J. Richard Haden, who set a trial date of Jan. 25.
Cornist, the founder of Model Ex-Offenders Inc., surrendered to authorities Oct. 7 in connection with the shooting of his former wife, Barbara. Prosecutors say that Cornist shot his ex-wife once in the back outside a Southeast San Diego restaurant Oct. 2. Barbara Cornist was treated at Paradise Valley Hospital and released the same night.
Cornist, who is free on $50,000 bail, made headlines last year when he hoodwinked a Municipal Court judge into sentencing him to a corrections program that he himself founded. Municipal Judge Thomas Gligorea, sentencing Cornist on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, ordered him to serve 120 days in California Halfway Houses Inc., a now-defunct work-furlough program that Cornist incorporated.
At the time of Cornist’s arrest on the attempted murder charge, state parole officials said they planned to review their $450,000 contract with Model Ex-Offenders.
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