A special prosecutor dropped charges this morning against Birmingham City Councilor Joel Montgomery, after Montgomery promised not to sue the city. The District One councilor was arrested April 7 in a Five Points South parking lot, where police found him bloodied and belligerent. He was charged with public intoxication.
Montgomery’s lawyers have insisted that Montgomery fell from a small retaining wall in the parking lot where he was found and that he had been disoriented from the fall.
The councilor did not return to Birmingham City Hall for almost two months after his arrest.
While Montgomery has agreed not to sue the city, he will take legal action against the owners of the parking lot, his lawyer Tommy Spina said.
Montgomery left the city courthouse without comment.
— Kyle Whitmire
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August 17th, 2007 at 10:00 am
I think the parking lot should sue Mr. Montgomery. He clearly assaulted it with his face.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Joe, I agree.
Kyle, congrats on getting the story first, once again. The Birmingham News flash mentions nothing about an agreement.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
on what grounds could he sue the city anyway? I don’t get it. How did he buy off the prosecutor?
August 17th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
It’s always a bad idea to let public officials off easy. It gives the perception of corruption, even if it isn’t real corruption. And honestly, there’s little difference between perception and real corruption.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Montgomery’s lawyer had accused the city of not giving him the proper medical attention he needed. As you can see, he messed his face up pretty bad, and he claimed he had hurt his vertebrae in the fall, too. According to the police report, Montgomery refused medical help at Cooper Green, but perhaps they could have done more.
What’s more, Montgomery never took a Breathalyzer, so there would have been the additional problem of proving he was drunk.
From the looks of things, Montgomery’s legal team threatened to make things expensive for the city if the prosecutor pushed the case, so in the end the prosecutor surrendered faster than the French Army.
The dismissal gives Montgomery a clean rap sheet, but the political cost is still high. It will be interesting to see what kind of blow-back might come from a city councilor threatening to sue the city.
August 17th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Joel and O.J.: both innocent
August 18th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Anyone represented by Mr. Montgomery should by now realize where his priorities lie… and that would be among other places face down in a parking lot.