A Panama City man who spent four years in prison for a crime he did not commit is a free man.
The Governor of Virginia has issued a conditional pardon to Jonathan Montgomery.
Montgomery was convicted of rape in 2008 and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.
Last month, the victim recanted her story.
Then 12 days ago, a judge ordered his release but that was held up by the Attorney General’s office.
The pardon finally sets Montgomery free and his mom is driving to the prison tonight to pick her son up.
Ben Tribbett (NLS Blog) had the following to say on Face Book:
A lot of work has to be done for a pardon to be issued, especially the week of Thanksgiving when everyone is trying to get out of town and be with their families. Got to give a shout out to Janet Vestal Kelly who leads these efforts for Governor McDonnell- and who stayed in town until she got the job done today. Great work Janet!
This is the most egregious failing of the law I have ever heard of. This poor young man was just going about his business when he was swooped down on like a hawk with a rabbit in its talons.
Right now, efforts are being made to repeal the Virginia 21-day law which prevents a judge from springing a person if their conviction is more than 21 days old.
On the other hand, is the law more correct than common sense and just plain RIGHT? Why did Cuccinellii have to stop the process? It was a stupid law and a wrongful conviction. He certainly has thought of other ways to get around the laws to advance his own agenda.
Most importantly, however, is the fact that this kid was wrongfully convicted in the first place. How does something like this happen? It was an old case when it went to trial. Literally everything was wrong about this case from its onset. How do we keep things like this from ever happening again? There isn’t enough money in Virginia to compensate this young man for all that he has been through.
This sure isn’t going to be the same boy who went in to prison. Jarrat county facility is rough.
Four years of a person’s life gone forever! Years that should have been used for an education for his future. Not to mention the lack of companionship. His parents!
It’s enough to make me cry!!!
It truly is tragic and should have never happened. No amount of money can ever make up that time or the homelessness that young man felt.
Shame on Virginia. Shame on Hampton.
Can he sue the woman who brought false charges?
Probably not. She was not 18. Don’t know but its a good question.
This is a horror story for real.
Blame goes to to girl, her parents, the prosecutor, and the jury or judge that convicted him. If any of those had a stronger moral compass, he presumably wouldn’t have been convicted.
I don’t disagree with that, Rick. I just don’t see where someone can be convicted of a crime that serious based on the memory of a 10 year old girl and her say so.
It almost sounds like the amateur hour. It could have been anyone living in the neighborhood in that year book.
If he was a juvenile we wouldn’t know if he had a record. Or if he had a juvenile record. Just looking at all sides- regardless, a ten year old girl with understanding of oral sex, surfing pornography on the Internet – I was called naive on this one, but something is/was wrong in her home.
Well it didn’t happen when she was 10. It happened when she wasd 16 or so. She told her parents that she was drawn to porn because she had been sexually abused by this boy. That was her reason for looking at porn…or so she said when she got caught.
So if she was 15 or 16 add 4 years to his age. I think he should have been tried as a juvenile to start with. The faux crime happened supposedly when he was 14.
I am so confused now that I don’t know how that fits into your theory Lyssa. This whole story is just so unbelievable.
Again, I have to disagree with that Lyssa. To me the bad parenting is that when they found the kid was surfing the net and looking at sexual stuff, they thought it was such a big freaking deal that she felt compelled to create this story.
10 is a bit young for detailed knowledge of sex these days, but not by much. Even if you guard against your child accessing any explicit content – which is doable – the kids they hang out with and talk to are generally under no such constraint.
And remember, this is not as simple as installing some type of guardian software on family computers. A lot of kids have internet access on cellphones, ipads, etc.
They are walking along through life using their internet connections to play online games, or download Hello Kitty memorabilia, and before you know it – before you braced yourself – they are looking at two girls and a cup (sic – I forget the name of that thing) and so forth. This is life in the modern age. It is not as doable to segregate kids from pornography as it was in the pre-digital age.
“She told her parents that she was drawn to porn because she had been sexually abused by this boy.” That’s the immense stupidity here. Girls do look at porn. Some if not all of them will end up looking at it. To think that that is an unnatural state in a girl, that some trauma must be behind it (or maybe Satan) is incredibly stupid.
From the Richmond Times Dispatch:
@Rick Bentley
Kids grow up thinking that wanting to look at porn is “dirty.” I don’t think their parents tell them.
Its right up there with that universal thought that your parents didn’t ever do “the deed” but once and that was to get you.
I think you are Lyssa are both saying something was wrong in that house. We don’t really know what though.
Governor Bob McDonnell’s pardon:
Never mentioned that porn peeping was limited to one gender. Parents do have to stay on top of the kidlets…and their technology. Plenty of people do. But it’s a lot of work.
I’m glad the boy is out – I hope that’s the end of the story.
Rick,
I am with you 100% on all your points.
Honestly, human nature is why I struggle with the dealth penalty. This is a perfect example of why witness testimony alone to convict is tenuous in my opinion.
I am not totally comfortable with the death penalty but some infamous cases more than make me justify it. DNA has made me more comfortable.
I would have killed John Allen Muhammad in a heart beat but not Malvo. There are lots of others I have no problem with.
This case with Jonathan Montgomery is simply inexcusable, however.
This is the sad side of our justice system. Cases like this have got to keep prosecutors awake at night. If you don’t go forward with the case you’re “allowing a rapist to walk free,” etc. and if prosecute and then end up wrong (like this) you made a horrible mistake and destroyed someone’s life by putting them in prison. It’s a sharp double sided blade and cuts easily.
And let’s not forget there is a jury involved too. How do you think they feel? Duped? Horrified? That cannot be an easy thing to live with either. Imagine if you chose to send someone to prison based on the trial and find out later that person was innocent.
Welcome Scott. This story horrifies me. How many others have there been?
Check out “the Innocence Project” and “The Exoneration Project”.