Alfred Montgomery is still sheriff in St. Louis — at least for a little while longer.
On Friday, a judge denied a third request from the Missouri attorney general to immediately remove Montgomery from office.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven R. Ohmer said he was growing impatient with the attorney general’s office for continuing to push for Montgomery’s ouster without allowing the quo warranto process to play out.
“I am not, for the third time, going to follow through with your request to remove him,” Ohmer told the attorney general’s team from the bench. “I need hard evidence of what it is, not what you say it is, or what [Montgomery] says it is. We need to have a trial and evidence before I can make a ruling in your favor or in his favor.”
Ohmer said he would consider any further motions from both sides at a hearing on Oct. 29.
On Thursday, Montgomery was indicted on five new federal felony charges stemming from his order to handcuff then-acting Jail Commissioner Tammy Ross earlier this year. A federal judge ordered that Montgomery be placed under house arrest until the next official hearing in the case on Tuesday. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway wrote in court documents that felony charges make it impossible for Montgomery to do his job as sheriff and that he has violated the bond conditions set in his federal misdemeanor indictment.
“The additional felony charges against Montgomery are serious and they implicate his ability to complete his duties,” the attorney general’s office wrote in its Friday petition. “Montgomery cannot personally devote his time to the performance of his duties as Sheriff of the City of St. Louis, and he will be unable to do so until Tuesday at the earliest, as he has been placed on house arrest after being charged with five felonies and he is not permitted to leave his home and go to work at the sheriff’s office.”
The state also asked Ohmer to immediately remove Montgomery earlier this week. The sheriff’s office filed a counterpetition, and a ruling is pending.
David Mason, the sheriff’s office attorney, told reporters on Thursday that he would be running the day-to-day at the office in Montgomery’s stead while Col. Yosef Yasharahla was out of the office.
At the time, Mason dismissed the idea that the attorney general would attempt to remove Montgomery. “I wouldn’t read too much into that in any way, shape or form,” he said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
