GUILTY AL - Clo Ann Stoner, 57, & Joanne Butler, 41, slain, Lauderdale County, 17 March 2014

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FLORENCE — Mark Montgomery stood calmly between his attorneys, Jean Darby and Vicki Willard, on Tuesday as they entered his plea of not guilty and not guilty by mental defect to two counts of capital murder and one count of aggravated animal cruelty.

Mark Montgomery murdered these two women in front of an eye witness, confessed to his mother after the shooting, and when he was taken into custody after a 45 minutes car chase he was found to have blood on his clothing and the weapon in his car.

He also killed a dog that was in the residence.

TBH, I am trying to figure out the mental defect part here. I guess there has to be a defense of some kind.

This is a death penalty capital murder case.

LINK HERE
 
Early media searching out the motive highlighted the previous domestic violence charges against Montgomery. Montgomery was picked up on March 3 2014 on a failure to appear regarding a DV case with a victim who was not Clo or Joanne. He was released on March 4 2014.

LINK HERE
 
This must be the start of the mental defect claim:

When asked about the events that transpired the previous day, Montgomery said he doesn't remember. He then turned to cameras and said, "My lawyer advised me not to say nothing to ya'll just a second ago, but I am going to tell my son hi and I love him."

I think we have seen this eerie calm in a DV case that ends in murder over and over and over again. It is like the perp is satisfied. He has done what he has threatened probably over and over and over again.

Coward.

LINK HERE
 
The obituaries and online condolence books for these two remarkable women are available. I will wait to hear from SeekingJana before I post the links, or someone else is free to add them. These women mattered to a large number of people-they were beloved and they mattered.
 
In case anyone wants to know where the murders took place, the women were killed in Lauderdale Co, AL., outside the city limits of Florence, AL. Clo lived in Florence, AL.

I want to thank Believe for adding this case to the " Awaiting Trial" section. I'd never added a case of a non- high profile murder, and didn't know if it was proper to do so on the site.
For those who knew and loved them, I'm sure both ladies were more important than any distant celebrity or high profile murdered victim who happened to be in a large city, thus getting much more news coverage.
 
I would like to be the voice for my slain friend for just a moment. I hope there are aspects of her life which will inspire others, as she inspired me, to try to be a better person.
Clo was an only child born to older parents, and was a very wanted and beloved child and young woman by her parents and many friends. I was fortunate enough to work with her when we were in our early 30's, and we became close friends very quickly. I " got" her, and a lot of the older nurses we worked with at that time didn't- at all. We were a virtual white tornado of business - two young and productive, white clad nurses, taking care of very ill-often terminally ill patients- together during those years. We were the youngest nurses on our floor, so we were often practical jokers among the staff- but I plead the Fifth Amendment on all that. :) It was good, clean fun in a high- stress environment. I don't know what my shifts would have been like if she hadn't been there at all. Dreary and extremely sad, I think.
She was extremely frank, not mincing words about what she thought. I think that sometimes, her frankness, tinged with humor, helped people see the truth. Once she told a cardiac patient that if he was going to get his new prescription for heart medication filled, he needed to throw away his cigarettes first of all or he was wasting his money. I was there when she said it, and I think he listened, and hopefully extended his lifespan by overcoming his nicotine addiction.
People listened to what Clo said because not only could they tell she CARED when she told her raw- boned truths, they also could see the twinkle in her eyes and hear her quick and often infectious laughter. She said what she said with a great deal of good humor mixed in.

Losing Clo leaves a large hole in the community hospital where she worked as an ER nurse. She was a great nurse, with many years' experience and a boatload of innate knowledge and common sense. She was also an extremely generous person, giving her time and resources to less fortunate people in need, as the hospital where she worked and general area of AL where she lived had many patients and general residents dealing with poverty and many unfilled needs I know that she was the catalyst for many of us who could follow in her footsteps as she donated clothes, bought food and delivered it, took people without cars to doctor appointments and was a generous- spirited person in so many ways for many years. When she became aware of a person with extraordinary needs, or a family with a sick child and no money, she was the first one to say "Let's start a fund for them! They need us!". I remember a baby once who was going to have to leave the hospital in a diaper and the hospital t shirt, and nothing else. We went out to the mall, which was close to where we worked, and bought clothing for that little one, and did other things for others because we saw their needs. Things such as this are the things I remember many years later. She had the biggest heart, and sadly, I don't think she ever realized how much her friends loved her.

Her greatest joy in life during the mature years of her life was for dogs, especially small dogs. She had no human children of her own, but her fur babies were her family. When we used to text each other shortly before she was killed, she would send me photo after photo of her dogs. That's what she kept stored on her phone, because they mattered so very much to her. I consider myself to be a dog lover as well, being the hu-mom to several fluffs, with 3 special dogs now at the Rainbow Bridge. The first time I went to Clo's house, to pick her up for a meeting we had to attend at the hospital where we worked together (now closed), she laughed and laughed because her little Yorkie bit me on the ankle.. No dog had ever bitten me before, not that it hurt, but because it hurt my feelings that a dog would bite me. :)
The photo I chose to post of her here on WS is a casual photo and one where she is wearing a T shirt that supports a local animal charity. She was a hands on volunteer for P.A. W.S, a shelter and animal charity in her area.

Clo wasn't perfect, because none of us are. I do not know who Mark Montgomery's attorney or attorneys are, but I hope they do not try to assassinate her character in the hopes of making her ( or the other victim) less of a victim. She deserves dignity in the courtroom.

As Clo told me a few times when I was distraught over the unexpected loss of one of our patients or friends " Dead is dead. We have to deal with it and go on because the living need us". She's dead because of a man with a gun or guns WANTED her dead, and he deserves no less than a Life Without Parole sentence. I would be happier if he got the Death Penalty, but I'm not sure Clo would agree with me.. not because of her apparent " relationship" with the murderer ( whom I knew nothing of until after her murder) but because she wasn't the type to wish anyone dead. She was truly one of those people who was born with a generous spirit and a loving heart.

I believe she died immediately and I choose to believe that she is with her parents, her deceased husband, Toby Stoner, and her many pets who had passed away before her in a much better place than this world. Clo believed in heaven, and I think her soul went to heaven when the first bullet struck her brain.. Mark Montgomery was witnessed as her shooter by his own adult sister, so there is not reasonable doubt that he took her life, but her cannot take the essence of Clo away from this world as long as people are alive who remember the good things she did for everyone she met. Her laughter and her wit, her special way of cutting to the truth and her extremely hard work as a hands on nurse will live on in the memory of those who knew and cared about her.
I miss her, I grieve for the senseless loss of such a productive and vitally alive lady, and I think about her every day. I remember the times we cried together,but mostly, I remember the times she made me laugh so hard that I cried tears of laughter. Her wit was so sharp that I remember it most of all even after so many years apart.

Her death is made harder for me, personally, because we had re-connected after two decades of living hundreds of miles apart, and she was planning to drive out and visit me around the time she was killed. I wish so much we could have had that visit. I believe that if she had visited me, we would have discussed her " relationship" with Montgomery, and I think I could have influenced her in a positive way to be strong, to leave the violent man, and go towards a healthy relationship.. We were that honest with each other, and we understood each other extremely well. Her life mattered to a great many people, and would have touched many more sick, injured, and disadvantaged people whom she could have helped with her skilled nursing care and selfless giving, had she the chance to live.

Thank you for reading.
 
SeekingJana, your friend sounds like a real gift to this world. Her picture makes me think she would be a lot of fun
to know. Thank you for letting us know her a little bit. I know she is blushing at your kind words, all the way in Heaven. Take care of yourself and live for her. Let her goodness inspire the goodness in you.
 
I really hope that the attorneys do not try and trash the victims during this trial. :cry:
 
I came to view this thread because of your posts in the Jury Room thread, SeekingJana. Your friend, Clo, sounds like an amazing person and I am so grateful someone added Clo & Joanne on this WS thread. Please know that I am praying for justice for Clo and that this perp will never be able to hurt another woman again. Hugs!
 
I really hope that the attorneys do not try and trash the victims during this trial. :cry:
Considering that the defendant's attorney of record is an elderly female, and her assistant attorney is also a female, I think it would be a very low blow and would backfire, considering that Mr. Montgomery's adult sister was at the residence at the time of the murders and has stated to LE and news sources that he shot both women and the little dog.

NOTHING either women or both women together could do tops 2 cold- blooded murders with so many bullet holes in each skull that the number of shots from multiple weapons had to be estimated by the state forensic pathologists.
And the dog- only a madman murders his victim's little pet in its carrier.
 
I came to view this thread because of your posts in the Jury Room thread, SeekingJana. Your friend, Clo, sounds like an amazing person and I am so grateful someone added Clo & Joanne on this WS thread. Please know that I am praying for justice for Clo and that this perp will never be able to hurt another woman again. Hugs!

I think about her every day. I try not to dwell on the hurt of the loss of her on this earth for so many people who loved her, but it's always there.
I am sure the other lady was a nice person also, although I didn't know her as far as I can remember at this time.

I don't see how there can be anything but a guilty verdict. Locals are calling it an " open and shut case". His own sister witnessing the murder and already having gone on record with statements of what he did. shooting the two women and the dog, are about as direct testimony as one ever gets in a capitol
murder trial.

But, nothing will bring back Clo's laughter, her knowledge, her helping hands and her willing and loving heart. She was THE most unique person I ever knew. And I've known a boatload of people. :)
 
I am so terribly sorry for your tragic loss. YOU bring back "Clo's laughter, her knowledge, her helping hands and her willing and loving heart". Thank you for sharing your friend with me.

Nothing would be considered "just punishment" for this horrific crime but I hope the monster never sees freedom again.
 
A bit of case news from WAFF48 TV:
"Mark Montgomery also went before the judge Tuesday with his attorneys.

Montgomery is charged with two counts of capital murder and animal cruelty.

Investigators said he killed Clo Ann Taylor and Joanna Strickland Butler almost a year ago.

Montgomery then led deputies on a chase before they took him into custody.

Tuesday's status hearing was to make sure both attorneys and prosecutors are able to move forward in their trial preps.

Montgomery is set to stand trial in September."
 
Clo was murdered a year ago today. All her friends, all her patients, her beloved little dogs, we are left bereft.
I have posted a one year memorial tribute to her in our Jury Room. I hope you will read it. :)

The last I read, Mark Montgomery is still in jail without bond, awaiting his trial for the murder of the two women, Clo Ann Stoner and Joanne Strickland Butler and her small dog in a carrier.

Please help me follow the upcoming legal proceedings in Alabama, as I only have what's published in the local news outlets there, and sometimes I may miss something that is informative about the upcoming trial or trials, which are set for September. I imagine the first ( and perhaps only) trial will be for the murder of Clo Stoner, since she was the one he had a " relationship" with.
 
Thank you to bringing Clo's story to us. You help us to see her not as just a victim who is gone. your words and memories bring her to life for us. We can each imagine her personality and how she made you laugh. She sounds very much like someone I would have enjoyed working with as well. You can count me in as someone who will be here for you and Clo and her friend Joanne.

I am glad the killer has been caught so quickly and that that his own sister is a witness. No reasonable doubt there and I doubt the "not guilty by mental defect" will help him.
 
Thank you to bringing Clo's story to us. You help us to see her not as just a victim who is gone. your words and memories bring her to life for us. We can each imagine her personality and how she made you laugh. She sounds very much like someone I would have enjoyed working with as well. You can count me in as someone who will be here for you and Clo and her friend Joanne.

I am glad the killer has been caught so quickly and that that his own sister is a witness. No reasonable doubt there and I doubt the "not guilty by mental defect" will help him.

Thank you so very much for caring, Swamp Mama, and all who have posted here. Sometimes, the emotions are so close to the surface that I have to leave here for a while before I can respond.

I believe justice will be served or he will plead out at the last minute, saving quite a lot of a poor state's finances for a capital murder trial.
 

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