Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991 TAG: 9104060379
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR/ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A federal judge withheld ruling Friday on his defense attorney's motion.
Bill Davis asked that his client not be tried with Montgomery, primarily because of Montgomery's disruptive behavior in courtrooms. Last month, Montgomery shouted obscenities at a federal magistrate. In February, he removed his clothing and refused to answer questions.
"If it keeps taking place, I don't think Simms can be looked at favorably at all," Davis said at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
Simms, of Penhook, is accused of paying Montgomery $500 to burn a house near his Franklin County home because it was under contract for sale to a black family. Simms is charged with conspiring with Montgomery to burn the house and with illegal moonshining offenses.
Montgomery, of Giles County, faces federal murder, civil rights, arson and firearms charges. Some of the charges stem from an incident in which a potential government witness to the house-burning was shot through the front door of his house and killed.
Montgomery and Simms also are charged with illegal possession of firearms by convicted felons. Both have prior first-degree murder convictions.
Montgomery's attorney, Jack Gregory, sought to sever his client's charges, asking that the murder charge be tried separately from the other charges.
U.S. District Judge James Turk said he was inclined to rule that the moonshining charges be tried separately, but said he was not inclined to sever the other charges.
Prosecutors argued against severing Montgomery's murder charge, contending that allegations he murdered Paul Daniel Bostic were directly linked to the burning of the Franklin County house.
Trying the two separately, would be a "double waste of resources," said Deborah Sines, attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, who is acting as co-counsel for the government. "One witness is in the witness protection program. We would have to bring that witness here twice."
Sines added that some witnesses are "terrified" of having to participate in the case.
Montgomery offered his own opinion about why the government wanted to try him and Simms together.
"They're trying to make him look like a conspirator," Montgomery said, gesturing toward prosecutors at Friday's hearing. "The man [Simms] won't get a fair trial with me. I feel sorry for this man."
Montgomery pointed to two women seated in the courtroom and identified them as government witnesses. He accused them of "trying to make me look bad," which reduced both of them to tears.
"It's the only way he has to get back at us," said one of the women, a former girlfriend of Montgomery's. "He's trying to drag us down in the mud where he is."
Citing pretrial publicity, both Davis and Gregory filed motions for changes of venue, asking that the case be tried outside the Roanoke area.
Turk said he would be willing to transfer the case if attorneys could agree on another location within the Western District of Virginia.
But he added, "I don't believe it will be a problem getting a fair and impartial jury here."
Prosecutors argued that in Simms' case some of the publicity was brought on by himself. "Simms talked to a reporter on two occasions," Sines said. "Simms invited some attention by talking to a reporter."
Simms, 53, has pleaded innocent to all charges and has been released on a $100,000 property bond. He faces 45 years in prison without possibility of parole, a $1.25 million fine or both.
Montgomery, 49, described by police as an extremely dangerous man who often wore body armor - remains in custody. Montgomery, the son of Samuel F. Montgomery, former police chief of the Giles County community of Narrows, faces life imprisonment without possibility of parole, a $1.75 million fine or both.
A trial is scheduled for May 1-10. But Gregory has asked that the trial be rescheduled for June to allow him more time to prepare.
by CNB