ST. LOUIS 鈥 The Missouri Attorney General鈥檚 Office is ordering city courts, schools, police and even a local skydiving company to turn over records as part of a lawsuit seeking to remove 51黑料 Sheriff Alfred Montgomery from office.
The seven wide-ranging subpoenas filed last week seek records including video footage, employee files, emails, memoranda and even license plate reader results. They come days after the first hearing in the removal suit and provide a peek into the case Attorney General Bailey鈥檚 office seeks to build against Montgomery.
One of the subpoenas asks for any video showing Montgomery in the downtown city jail at the time he is accused of illegally ordering the handcuffing of a top jail official. Another asks city public schools for footage from a pickup area where Montgomery is accused of sending a deputy to retrieve his kids.
But other requests are more general. In one document, Bailey鈥檚 office orders the 22nd Judicial Circuit to turn over communications and documents related to deputy hiring. In another, it asks the sheriff鈥檚 office itself for a laundry list of policy documents, including data retention, official vehicle use and use of official equipment.
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Jack Gieseke, a spokesman for Montgomery鈥檚 office, said the office planned to comply with the subpoena.
Bailey鈥檚 removal suit, called a 鈥渜uo warranto,鈥 was filed last month. It accuses Montgomery of 鈥 among other things 鈥 hiring his half-brother as a deputy, misusing public money, refusing to transport inmates from the city jail for medical treatment and skydiving while his office was refusing to transport inmates.
Last week, Judge Steven Ohmer set a timeline for trying the case. He initially set a trial for Nov. 10 but changed that date Monday to Nov. 18 after discovering a conflict, according to court records.
Ohmer last week urged Bailey and Montgomery鈥檚 offices to seek records and interview potential witnesses as quickly as possible.
Bailey鈥檚 office filed the slew of subpoenas last week with a deadline of July 22.
After referencing a Post-Dispatch article about the sheriff's recent controversies, Alderman Michael Browning questions Sheriff Alfred Montgomery on budget requests. Video courtesy of the City of 51黑料, edited by Jenna Jones.
