Posted on
December 8, 2011 in
“It boggles the mind that neither side knew about this during trial,” Ellis said. “Both sides in this case were spectacularly incompetent.”
(Chron.)
That’s Judge Mark Kent Ellis of the 351st District Court commenting, on the record, on the performance of “defense lawyer” Ronald Ray, Sr. and an as-yet-unidentified prosecutor. Not just incompetent but spectacularly incompetent.
Both Ronald Ray, Sr. and the DA’s Office had the same response: Me no Alamo. Me no Goliad (history lesson for my non-Texas readers):
“If the defense had raised the issue either prior to or during trial, the prosecutor would have immediately investigated his claims and taken the appropriate action,” said the DA’s Office.
Ray “believes it was unfair Montgomery had to show he was innocent when the burden in the case rested with prosecutors, who had to prove he was guilty.”
This is what generally happens when the defense relies on the presumption of innocence: the government proves the defendant guilty. So unfair!
Speaking of Ronald Ray, Sr.: he was the “trial lawyer” on this case, in which, after his client was convicted of sexual assault, Ray advised the client to plead “true” to a prior conviction that resulted in a mandatory life sentence. He would have done no worse had he pled “not true” and forced the government to prove the out-of-state conviction to the jury, and might have done substantially better.
I’m a bit surprised I haven’t seen a post on this blog about Joe Amendola, the alleged defense attorney for Jerry Sandusky. Over the last couple of months I have watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as he has assisted the prosecutors in building the case against his client by allowing Sandusky to conduct interviews about the allegations of child abuse. The fact that he would let his client participate is questionable enough, but more appalling is the CONTENT of the interviews and the lame explanations offered by Sandusky, apparently with little to no advice, counsel, or filtering by Mr. Amendola. Most egregious of all, Amendola was PRESENT when Sandusky gave some of these interviews, which, in and of itself is perfectly sensible, but only makes him look more brutally incompentent in light of what his client said. As a defense attorney one feels like shouting “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MAN, DO SOMETHING!!!” at certain points, while the Pennsylvania prosecutors were undoubtedly pinching themselves, wondering if this was all some DA wet dream.
Perhaps this is only of interest to those of us who also keep an eye on the world of sports, but I would have thought you would have skewered Amendola by now, Mark. It is certainly a good example of what NOT to do in defense of a client being pilloried in the media.
Mark,
I just checked the HCDA’s website under trials to watch and it lists Allison Baimbridge and Jill Foltermann as the trial prosectors originally slated to represent the state at trial.
I hope Mr. Montgomery’s family can come up with enough money to hire another attorney.
This genius had a golden alibi that he never investigated. Query: what did he do prior to trial?
Then after his client is convicted and gets forever he takes 5 minutes to figure out the alibi. And then he has the gall to claim a victory when the judge chews him out and grants the MNT. The photo of him with Johnny Binder is rich.
Robb,
I understand it was the father that found the alibi, not the lawyer.
Robert Cardenas,
When the alibi was found, the family went back to Ronald Ray and had him re-assigned to the case. The family is happy with Ronald Ray (as they blame the prosecutors for withholding evidence) and intend to have him continue representation in the future on the remaining cases. I know you are shocked, but . . . .
It should terrify us all that even with video evidence, an innocent man was sentenced to life in prison. What would have happened if Montgomery had not been able to prove his innocence via a record of his incarceration? How many people are serving life in prison for a crime they didn’t commit and worse yet, how many people have been put to death for a crime they didn’t commit? What we shouldn’t be talking about is Montgomery’s failure to recognize that he had proof of his innocence, but a society and a penal justice system determined to round up and incarcerate people of colour. In many ways today’s system is yet another manifestation of slavery. what the reporters are not saying is Montgomery was pulled over and arrested for a robbery , He was put in a line up,The witness who was robbed said Montgomery was not the man that robbed them and didn’t identified him , yet the DA held him in Jail 6 Months, then they came up with these other 5 cases against HIM. THIS IS A innocence man. The HCDA Office, THE system is determined TO PUT Him away . because he have a pass record. Montgomery has done his time for his pass , leave him alone, let the young Man go home to his wife and children . Is this justice system telling us it don’t work, that a human being can’t change?. are the Criminal rehabilitation system is a revolving Door to keep a cash flow for the system itself .