Jackie Glass, the retired Clark County district judge who sentenced former football star O.J. Simpson to decades behind bars in 2008 and later hosted the syndicated courtroom series “Swift Justice,” died on August 28, 2026, in Las Vegas at the age of 70.
News of her death was shared by her daughter Rachel Wolfson, a comedian and stuntwoman, in a Facebook post accompanied by a photograph of the pair. “Rip my rock, I don’t know how I’ll do this life without you,” Wolfson wrote, adding several more pictures of herself with her mother in the hours that followed.
A cause of death has not been made public. Glass leaves behind her husband, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, along with two daughters: Rachel and Rebecca Wolfson, who sits as a Las Vegas Municipal Court judge.
The Sentencing That Defined Her Public Image
For much of the nation, Glass was remembered as the judge who put Simpson behind bars. At a hearing on December 5, 2008, inside the Clark County Regional Justice Center, she imposed a term of up to 33 years, with parole possible after nine, on armed robbery and kidnapping counts tied to a September 2007 confrontation at the Palace Station casino. Simpson and five other men had burst into a hotel room there in an attempt to take sports memorabilia he said was his.
Glass brushed aside the apology Simpson offered in court, told him his conduct had been arrogant as well as ignorant, and sent him off to prison in shackles. “It was much more than stupidity,” she said from the bench.
The two had clashed before. In January 2008, after Simpson breached the terms of his release, Glass doubled his bail to $250,000 and rebuked him in open court, asking aloud whether arrogance, ignorance or a combination of the two explained his behavior.
Simpson won parole in 2017. He died of prostate cancer in April 2024 at 76.
From the Newsroom to the Bench
A New York native born in 1956, Glass arrived in Las Vegas in 1978 carrying a journalism degree from the University of Georgia and a reporting job at KORK-AM, 920. KTNV-TV, Channel 13, later brought her aboard to cover crime and anchor newscasts. That assignment steered her toward a career in law.
In 1984 she completed her law degree at the University of San Diego School of Law and gained admission to the State Bar of Nevada that same year. Glass went on to litigate in private practice for 18 years, taking personal injury and criminal defense work, 12 of those years at Wolfson & Glass, the firm she started with her husband in 1990 and remained with until 2002.
Voters sent her to Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court in 2002; she was seated in 2003 and spent eight years handling civil and criminal dockets before stepping down in 2011. Her most enduring contribution may have been institutional: she helped establish the Clark County Mental Health Court in December 2003 and assembled a task force on competency to stand trial whose work created the Clark County Competency Court on November 16, 2005. In 2007 the National Association of Counties recognized the competency program with an Achievement Award. Her last year on the bench included supervision of the district’s drug and alcohol treatment courts. Among the cases she heard was the murder prosecution of Craig Titus, a onetime professional bodybuilder, and his wife, Kelly Ryan.
A Second Act in Syndication
In 2011 Glass swapped the courtroom for a television studio, taking over from former Georgia prosecutor Nancy Grace as host of “Swift Justice,” the CBS syndicated show that resolved real small-claims disputes through arbitration. Grace had fronted Season 1; for Season 2, production shifted from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Executive producer John Terenzio said at the time that he was eager to introduce audiences to another original voice and predicted viewers would take to her. The series ran from 2010 until it ended in April 2012.
Tributes Pour in Across Nevada
Tributes came in across Nevada over the weekend for a legal career that touched five decades. Former Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who prosecuted the Simpson case in Glass’ courtroom, said in a statement that she was a respected jurist and, more meaningfully, a warm and friendly person.
Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley wrote on X that she was heartbroken and felt as though she had lost a sister, noting that she and Glass entered the legal profession around the same time and that she had marveled at everything Glass achieved. Berkley extended the city’s condolences to Steve Wolfson and to Rebecca Wolfson, her municipal court colleague.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said the news left her stunned and grieving, describing Glass on X as an inspiring role model who devoted her life to seeking justice for others and whose light was extinguished too soon.
Clark County said in a statement that Glass was a pillar of the legal community who helped shape southern Nevada’s justice system, but that she was above all a beloved wife and mother. The Nevada Broadcasters Association & Foundation called her legacy an extraordinary one reaching across broadcasting, journalism, law and public service, and said her career touched countless lives. As of Monday, August 31, the family had not released information about memorial arrangements.