It has been over two years since girl like us Deoni Jones was killed back in February 2, 2012 as she sat at a bus stop in NE Washington DC. Her alleged killer Gary Niles Montgomery was arrested on February 10 and charged with first degree murder.But the wheels of justice have moved at a glacial pace since that February 2012 day to the frustration of Jones' family. That frustration over the fact it has been two years since Deoni was killed with no resolution of the case spilled out during another mental competency hearing on February 8 to determine if Montgomery was fit to stand trial.
Montgomery was initially found competent to stand trial in March 2012, but the case was not allowed to proceed due to the failure of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia to obtain an indictment until November 2012. Montgomery switched defense lawyers, further delaying the court proceedings set to begin July 10, 2013 as the new attorney aggressively contested the results of the March 2012 competency hearing. The 30 day mental competency observation didn't take place until October, and Judge Robert Morin after receiving the report in November 2013 found Montgomery not fit to stand trial.
Another mental competency observation was set for January 2014 with the hearing set for February 8, pushing the tentative trial date back to April 14, 2014.
Jones’s father Alvin Bethea, stood up and interrupted the February hearing to express his discontent with the prosecution. "There has been a great deal of disrespect and lack of sympathy and empathy,” said Mr. Bethea of the prosecutors’ treatment of him and his wife, “We are suffering more than enough.”
Montgomery was found competent to stand trial, with the scheduled date of the trial set for October 6.
Let's hope and pray for the sake of Deoni's family, friends and all who loved her this date finally sticks and the far too long delayed trial of Gary Niles Montgomery finally happens.
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