GUILTY NC - Officers Jeff Shelton, 35, & Sean Clark, 34, slain, Charlotte, 31 March 2007

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - The competency hearing resumes this morning for a man accused of fatally shooting two Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers two years ago.

Demeatrius Montgomery is accused of killing officers Sean Clark and Jeff Shelton in 2007.

As Montgomery walked across the courtroom on Monday, the entire room watched. The court would only allow a single video camera mounted in the balcony in order to shield the victims' families.

The purpose of the competency hearing
is to determine if Montgomery is capable of standing trial in the capital punishment case.

Montgomery's aunt, Gwendolyn Hinton, took the stand and told the court she helped raise him. She said when he was a boy, his mother drank and his father wasn't around. Montgomery's mother died in 2003 and Hinton claims that caused her nephew to become even more withdrawn.

She also told the court her nephew suffered an injury in 1999 when a CMPD officer hit him in the head with a blunt object. She says it left him with the mind of a child and this is when his mental incapacity started.

"I think there's something wrong with him," Hinton said. "His mind is not functioning the way it should."

When the state questioned Hinton about the 1999 encounter, they pointed out that Montogomery was resisting arrest and that he "sucker punched" an officer breaking the officer's skin.

Prosecutors also argued that since the encounter with police in 1999, Montgomery has taken
classes at Central Piedmont Community College and held jobs.

Assistant defense attorney Beth Green also asked Hinton about what she sent Montgomery while he was in jail.

"What books did you send him while he was in jail?" she asked.

"The Qur'an and about African-American leaders," Hinton responded.

"Civil rights leaders--You weren't sending him comic books, were you?" Green asked.

"No," Hinton replied.

WBTV's Molly Grantham is covering today's hearing and we will updated wbtv.com as soon as we get new details.

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CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - The competency hearing for Demetrious Montgomery resumed in Mecklenburg County court Monday morning.

Montgomery is accused of killing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers Sean Clark and Jeff Shelton in April of 2007.

Last month, a judge delayed the competency hearing because a witness became ill.

On Monday, a witness for the defense told the court that Montgomery is not competent to stand trial and that he has symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

Dr. Seymour Halleck testified to meeting with Montgomery five times, reading Montgomery'
s letters to his family and interviewing his family members.

He said Montgomery appeared delusional and talked to himself in front of family members. He also dismissed the notion that Montgomery might be "faking" his symptoms.

"I discount that he's trying to do this to beat the rap," said Halleck.

Halleck also told the court that Montgomery's condition is deteriorating. Montgomery is less talkative and more agitated, Halleck said.

Assistant District Attorney Marsha Goodenow cross-examined Dr. Nicole Wolf, a psychiatrist who treated Montgomery at Dorothea Dix, a mental health facility in Raleigh.

Dr. Wolf testified that Montgomery did not display signs of schizophrenia.

"Usually patients who have schizophrenia, their symptoms are prominent and you usually don't have to dig to this degree to find any symptoms, but I felt like I was digging for symptoms," she said.

The courtroom was filled with friends, family and fellow officers of Clark and Shelton. Meanwhi
le, Montgomery's grandmother was the only representative from his family in court.

The court hearing will resume Tuesday morning.

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Police Officer Jeff Shelton

http://www.odmp.org/officer/18830-police-officer-jeff-shelton

Police Officer Sean Clark

http://www.odmp.org/officer/18829-police-officer-sean-clark​

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - The trial for a man charged with murdering two Charlotte police officers will be delayed.

A Mecklenburg County Superior Court judge ruled today the trial for Demeatrius Montgomery wouldn't start until October. Judge Forrest Bridges said that would give the defense time to figure out if a new law passed last year, something called the Racial Justice Act, is applicable to his client. That Act declares it illegal to execute a person where race is a significant factor in the decision to seek or impose the death sentence.

The state, led by Mecklenburg County Assistant District Attorney Marsha Goodenow, argued that worrying about the Racial Justice Act now is putting the cart before the horse. Let's get to trial, she said, and if Montgomery is convicted and sentenced to death… then let's discuss the Racial Justice Act.

Judge Bridges disagreed, and ruled in favor of giving the defense more time to investigate if this law applies to their case.

Separately, the judge denied a motion for a competency hearing, after Montgomery's lawyer asked the court to declare him incompetent. Judge Bridges said the competency hearing from last August was sufficient and that ruling – that Montgomery is competent enough to stand trial – would stand.

Demeatrius Montgomery is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers Sean Clark, 34, and Jeff Shelton, 35, both murdered in 2007.

They were responding to a domestic dispute when they were shot in the head outside an apartment complex.

Montgomery's attorney, Duane Bryant, also filed motions that would prohibit anyone involved in the trial from uttering the words - hero, heroes, heroism, murder, murderer, victim or victims.

The death penalty trial is slated to begin Monday, July 12th. Attorneys are asking the state be prohibited from trying to execute the 28-year-old. They're also seeking a trial delay.

In other motions filed by Bryant, he argues that under the new "Racial Justice Act", Montgomery should not be a candidate for death row.

Bryant quotes studies which show death sentences are more often sought and imposed against African American men. Since Montgomery is black, the defense is arguing that the prosecution might have sought the death penalty unfairly.

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Belinda said:

I'm not finding anything through NC court records either. Is there anyone who can give me some direction on this? I know there are many researchers on here much more experienced than I. I'm just not sure where to go from here.

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The death penalty was removed Tuesday afternoon as a possible punishment in the trial of a man charged in the deaths of two Charlotte police officers.

Judge Forrest Bridges made the decision after a day and a half of information about a Charlotte police officer whose notes from an interview with the suspect, Demeatrius Montgomery, were destroyed.

On Monday and Tuesday morning, doubt was cast on the conduct of former Detective Arvin Fant, who on Monday said he destroyed his notes. On Tuesday, there was news that Fant called his Sergeant to say there could be more notes at his desk about a witness who says Montgomery did not shoot the officers.

"The officer in question admitted being untruthful in meetings and in violation of police procedures," Bridges said. He added that the issue of Fants notes "questions the integrity of the trial."

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals rejected Demeatrius Montgomery’s appeal in the murders of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers Sean Clark and Jeff Shelton...

Montgomery was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. He is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences with no parole.

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