LaDondrell Montgomery had an airtight alibi for his whereabouts during a December 13,2009 armed robbery. He was in prison for another crime. Unfortunately, neither prosecutor, nor defense attorney, nor even the defendant realized this. As a result, Montgomery was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a crime he could not have committed. Shortly after the conviction, attorney Richard Ray, representing Montgomery in several other robbery cases, discovered the error. Prosecutor and Defense Attorney joined in requesting the verdict be nullified, which the Judge agreed to.
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State District Judge Mark Kent Ellis shook his head as he berated Ray and prosecutors for the oversight. “It boggles the mind that neither side knew about this during trial,” Ellis said Thursday. “Both sides in this case were spectacularly incompetent.”The judge personally apologized to Montgomery, who stood at the bench in an orange jail uniform.
Perhaps we need a checklist for attorneys on both sides that must be filled out prior to trial. “Was the defendant in prison at the time of the crime?” seems like a question that should be answered before the expense of a trial and the sentencing of an innocent man to life in prison.