Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous brainiac, 31, 'frog-marched' out of oyster bar, shot dead in ritzy Mountain Brook

Episode Date: June 15, 2021

An Alabama man is charged with murder after police say he killed his wife and left her body behind an Alabama high school. An officer patrolling the area found the body of 31-year-old Megan Montgomery at an athletic complex behind Mountain Brook High School in Mountain Brook. Montgomery's estranged husband, Jason McIntosh, a former Hoover Police Department officer, arrested. Police said McIntosh shot his estranged wife numerous times, including in the back and in the head.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Jesse Evans - Former Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney (Cobb County), Major Crimes / Homicide & Cold Case Unit Chief, Author: “Laws of Leadership” (in production), Instagram: @jesse.evans31 Caryn Stark - NYC Psychologist, www.carynstark.com  Dr. Kendall Crowns – Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Travis County, Texas (Austin) Chris Byers - Former Police Chief Johns Creek Georgia, 25 years as Police Officer, now Private Investigator and Polygraph Examiner, www.chrisbyersinvestigationsandpolygraph.com  Nicole Partin - Crimeonline.com Investigative reporter TIP LINE: Megan's Domestic Violence Prevention Fund: www.CFBHAM.org/Megans-fund  The National Domestic Violence Hotline - 800-799-SAFE or 800-799-7233   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful 31-year-old newlyely Wadd is dead. But why? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Take a listen to this. Everyone I've heard from is shocked to learn that it was her body found here in a parking lot near Mountain Brook High School. They tell me she was loved by everyone. However, the past year had been especially rocky for Montgomery.

In February, she was involved in what was reported as an argument over a handgun with her husband, who at the time was a Hoover police officer. That resulted in a gunshot wound to her arm. The next month, she placed a restraining order against him, and today I learned she had just gotten over that gunshot wound to her arm last month. I spoke with the coroner today. He isn't releasing the cause of death at this time. I also spoke with the Jefferson County District Attorney. He tells me no formal charges have been filed. Now, Tommy Spina, the suspect's attorney, tells me he's the one who worked out a deal to surrender his client with police today. Okay, I don't quite understand that. You've got a dead 31-year-old, Megan Montgomery, by gunshot wound, but no charges filed? Again, but no charges filed.

Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. We want answers. Joining me, Jesse Evans, former Deputy Chief Assistant DA, joining us out of Cobb County. He's the author of Laws of Leadership, and you can find him at jesse.evans31.

Karen Stark, renowned New York psychologist, joining us from Manhattan. You can find her at karenstark.com with a C, Dr. Kendall Crowns, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Travis County, Texas, that's Austin, and former Police Chief at Johns Creek, Chris Byers, now at chrisbyersinvestigationsandpolygraph.com. But first, to Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. You know, Nicole, it seems to never end, but what I

want to ask about first is, how did Megan Montgomery, beautiful young woman, end up getting shot in the arm? Nancy, this story, so sad. It goes back to a fairy tale beginning, proposed to on the beach, wedding of her dreams in New York, and only... Oh, wait a minute, wait wait a minute I've seen that photo Nicole Parton man you really know how to tell a story because I immediately remembered the photo of Megan getting engaged on the beach and she's holding up her hand showing off a beautiful a big I remembered in detail because it struck me a big round engagement ring a big round diamond with like pave diamonds around it just right beautiful and she was so happy okay sorry for that deviation go ahead Nicole so super happy they couldn't wait to get married they head back home to Alabama from the beach

run to the courthouse get married a months later, her dream wedding in New York City. Only months after that, 911 call comes in and 31-year-old Megan has been shot in the arm, her bones shattered by her husband's pistol, bullet entering in, exiting out, shattering her bones, 14 pins, a plate put in her arm to recover. All of this, the first of many domestic problems. Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute. I need to go to, I'm going to, I got to go to a doctor on this. What is she saying? Dr. Kendall Crowns joining me, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Travis County, Texas. that's austin dr crowns what does that mean 14 pins in your arm that can't be good no what it is is when an arm is shattered like hers was with the uh gunshot wound her humerus which is the arm in your the bone in your arm was completely severed in half and what

they had to do was put a metal plate to bring the bones back together and then put screws actually into the bone to fix that plate in place. So 14 pins is 14 screws holding that plate to keep her arm back together again. So the arm won't grow back naturally? Not to the degree it was broken. In the x-rays that I saw, it was completely was broken in the in the x-rays that i saw it was completely severed in half so your your bone might be able to kind of bring it back together but structurally it wouldn't be sound and it would just re-break so by bringing it back together surgically and putting the pins

in it will heal more properly okay i'm trying to to understand 14 pins in your arm, what would she have gone through when that bullet shattered her arm? So what would have happened is it broke her arm in half, basically, and she would have been unable to move it. She would have been in intense pain, and then her arm would just kind of be sitting there flopping because the muscles wouldn't be attaching correctly and things of that nature.

So she wouldn't really be able to move it right. And she would be really in a lot of pain. Back to you, Nicole Parton. What were you saying? I interrupted right at the 14 pins in her arm. That was the beginning. That was the beginning of the abuse that was at least documented. And things went downhill from there.

That argument apparently stemming over allegations that he became jealous of something. His story, her story, her saying to the doctor, he shot me. Him saying, I thought I was grabbing her cell phone. I didn't realize there was a gun involved. Okay, hold on just a moment. So he says he was grabbing a cell phone. Right. And didn't know it was a gun. Right. Okay, let me go to Jesse Evans, former deputy chief assistant DA in Cobb County in major crimes, homicide cold case unit chief. That's not easy. Author of Laws of Leadership. Jesse Evans, thank you so much for

being with us. Did you just hear that? He told the arriving officers, Jesse, that he thought it was a cell phone, but oh, it was a gun and he pulled the trigger. Help me. Makes no sense to me as a prosecutor. that's a pretty shocking statement to make to responding officers. And, you know, listen, we know that defendants are going to make statements that are self-serving in nature. But it's our job as prosecutors to sort of weed through those things. You know, she made a statement to doctors that he shot me. So it's pretty shocking that he would make a statement like that, an assertion that clearly is not borne out by the evidence.

And that's something as a prosecutor I would look forward to challenging. Yes, ma'am. Jesse, I'm not a judge, okay? You don't have to talk to me like you're a legal brief. Jesse, he's lying. He's lying, Jesse. He didn't reach for any D-A-m-n cell phone like this is a cell phone it's not a gun there's not a trigger to pull that's total bs absolutely it's a lie jesse

it's a total lie and one that uh we as prosecutors would look forward to meeting in court uh we deal with those kind of lies all the time and uh it's it's one that you just look to sink your teeth into when you get to the courtroom. And now she's dead. Now she's dead. And let me go back to you, Nicole Parton. Can you tell the rest of the staff who answered that call? Who answered the 911 call? His co-workers. He was part of the Hoover County Police Department. So these people knew him. He knew this police department well. And they took the call.

They came out. And coincidentally, there were no charges filed against him, even though she suffered this horrific gunshot wound to the arm. And let me ask you this, Nicole Parton. What, if any, injuries did he suffer? He had no injuries in this particular incident there was nothing at all wrong with him she suffered all of the abuse from this gentleman he did not suffer anything from this incident also i would just like to point out that she has the gunshot wound of her arm if If she's struggling over a gun,

you would think it would be not in her arm. It's almost like the gun would have had to have been pointed backwards to have gotten the injury she got. You know what, Dr. Kendall Crowns, there you go. Talking sense again. That's not fitting into the defendant's scenario. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about a really gorgeous young girl, 31-year-old Megan Montgomery, now dead. And it all started with a 911 call where she is shot, her arm totally disabled, just shattered. She needed 14 pins in it to get it back together. It would never heal on its own. Yet, isn't it true, Nicole Parton, that somehow in that police report, wasn't she the one deemed to be the aggressor? Absolutely. So after statements were taken by both parties,

the final conclusion was that it was kind of a mutual argument that the two had had and that she was the aggressor. She's 5'8", 135 pounds. Jason McIntosh, 6'4", 225 pounds. But they say she's the aggressor and it's her fault that her arm is shattered. Okay, Chris Byers, former police chief, Johns Creek, now at Chris Byers Investigations and Polygraph. I want to just chew a nail in half right now. Because those cops let this happen.

She was no more the aggressor than the man in the moon in that scenario. And I'll tell you why they said that. Because he would lose his job on the force in law enforcement if it was deemed he had been the aggressor. So I guarantee you he convinced her to lie so he could keep his job. Yeah, absolutely. He would have definitely lost his job. And what's even more confusing to me as I read about this, Hoover Police Department turned the case over to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. So basically they turned it over to the state so that there wouldn't be any of the things we're talking about like they were covering for him. So clearly she had to have told them something to take the focus away from him being the aggressor in this,

because you would hope that once it's turned over to the state, it's not turned over to his colleagues, that a thorough, accurate investigation would be done. But clearly we see that that's not what happened. Not what happened at all. As a matter of fact, Chief Byers, if a cop is found to be guilty in a commission of a crime, it's over. Not only do they get fired, they lose whatever police pension they're going to have. They are disgraced. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And 10 years of doing internal affairs investigations and then become being a police chief. I mean, that's, you know, these are the things that take you out of the job. Once you get this, you're disgraced. You can never be certified again.

So that's exactly what happened in this. I believe he convinced her to lie so he could keep his job. There's no coming back from that. And to you, Jesse Evans, there are very few things that I hate more than a dirty cop. Because not only are they committing a crime, but they're ruining the justice system. They are disgracing lady justice. And I remember the first time it really hit me, Jesse, I had put together, along with Atlanta Vice, a child prostitution ring. And I worked so hard on that case. The little girl, the main witness, is just 13, ran away the day before trial. I was out till 5 a.m. in the morning in my car

trying to find her. We found her, by the way. And I worked very closely with three vice cops. I mean, every day in every flop house and drugged in stripper joint, you name it, trying to find these guys and find this girl. All right. But the conviction happened. Fast forward, Jesse, you know, a year. I was in the DA's office working. I looked up. I was walking through, I think, the record room. Somebody that had a TV.

I looked up and there was a sketch from a sketch artist in federal court. You know, they're horrible. You can't tell who the sketch is of. They're always terrible. And I went, wow, that looks just like the investigator, the detective on the child prostitution ring. Well, then the chiron came up on the bottom third. It was him!

And his two buddies, the three, the four of us that worked that case. They had been, Jesse, going into dopers' homes and stealing their plasma TV, their dope ropes, their gold chains, their money, their dope, stealing it during these

stings. And they finally, it was so bad, the dopers complained to the feds, that's bad. And the feds did a sting on them and caught them on video, I believe, robbing dopers. I was stunned. These three vice cops I thought I knew so well. We spent day after day after day together working the case out on the street. And they were dirty. And I didn't even pick up on it. Nancy, nothing makes me more angry than a dirty cop. I couldn't agree with you more. You hit the nail on the head. We entrust our law enforcement officers to protect us.

They're supposed to be protecting us in our homes, in our community. I think the only thing that makes me more angry than a dirty cop is a dirty, abusive cop. And this is just a shocking breakdown that you have in this particular case. It was totally preventable. Well, everybody, I hope you're sitting down. I'm going to play for you some video. This is from our friend Kate Snow. And you're going to hear, you're going to hear the defendant in this case threatening his wife. Take a listen to our cut number five. Megan's marriage to former police officer Jason McIntosh was violent. Megan recorded him threatening her. She knew if she left, she would be killed. That's why she didn't leave.

One night in February 2019, Suzanne says Megan took her husband's gun to protect herself. When she heard him coming towards her, she went towards the door with the gun to keep him away. And she said, the next thing I know, I'm on the floor and I'm shot. Megan's arm was shattered. The police who responded were McIntosh's colleagues on the local force. So Alabama's state law enforcement agency took over, seizing the gun as evidence. We went and got the restraining order. She got the restraining order.

But after Megan moved into her own apartment later in 2019, the Alabama law enforcement agency returned Jason McIntosh's gun to him. Did you hear what he was saying to her? And I'm quoting him. Laugh now, bitch. And I take that first cut off your cheek. I don't know if you heard that. Take a listen now to Andrew Donnelly, our friends at ABC, our cut 10. She also included this video of her husband, Jason McIntosh, making threats with a gun. McIntosh's attorney, Tommy Spina, says he arranged for McIntosh to surrender to Mountain

Brook Police Monday. If you were listening carefully, what he is saying is, and there's actual video of this. Stop. Stop. Listen to me. Don't ever play games with me, okay? Because I will always win. And he points the gun at her and says, because I don't give a either a shit or the F word. I mean, Karen Stark, this woman knows he will beat her.

And he's threatening to cut her face and pointing a gun at her and saying, don't play games with me because I'll always win. And he points the gun at her. And they give the gun back to him? It's outrageous, Nancy. It is so outrageous because they were called, police were called. There were a number of incidents of domestic violence where they had a restraining order. She moved into her own apartment.

She posted online things that he had sent her, text messages, which said, this is what happens when you're in an abusive relationship. She was really trying to get her life back together, and he had to control her and how in the world anybody would give a gun back when there's a restraining order protection is supposed to be protecting her it's the most outrageous thing she was a courageous woman who tried really you don't hear a lot of abuse situations where the person is able to move out and try and start their life again. But she did try. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the gunshot death of a beautiful 31-year-old woman that could totally have been avoided had the Hoover Law Enforcement Braintrust not decided to return the gun to a domestic terrorist beating and threatening his own wife.

It's even caught on video. He's already shot her once in the arm. Was that not enough warning? Take a listen to our cut eight. This is Brea Douglas, WVTM, NBC 13. Chief Ted Smith says she was shot in the head and in the back. He also says evidence shows she was most likely shot in the parking lot of the Mountain Brook Athletic Complex over the weekend, her body found later by an officer patrolling. Courtyard Oyster Bar is one of the last places Montgomery was seen. Investigators say witnesses with Montgomery saw McIntosh come into the facility, go up to a table with multiple people at it, including Ms. Montgomery, lean down, have some type of exchange with her, some type of exchange with some of the other people at the table. If found guilty, McIntosh could face the death penalty.

Joining me, Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Nicole, what exactly happened the night that Megan Montgomery was murdered? So Megan was with about six friends at a local oyster bar there. They were out having dinner, celebrating the winning football team. And he shows up. Jason McIntosh shows up at the oyster bar. He walks in. He places one hand behind her neck, one hand on her shoulder.

Some of the friends there begin to say, you know, who are you? What's going on? And he says, this is my wife. I'm her husband and she needs to come with me. He walks her out of the restaurant. Surveillance shows that he's the last person with her, walks her out, puts her, she gets in the car with him. and that's when they drive to that nearby sports complex by the high school. And that's where, tragically, her life ends. He beat her, he shot her in the back, shot her multiple times in the head. Take a listen to our Cut 12. This is Morgan Hightower, WBRC Fox 6.

The night that Megan Montgomery was killed. She was doing and our state were doing the iron bull mountain br to us that she was last s watching the game when mo confirmed to us that Jason husband showed up, there interaction and then they left

together from there. And when her body was found Sunday morning, it's just not clear what happened. Investigators have McIntosh in custody, but he has not been charged. One of Megan Montgomery's best friends says his last conversation with her was about the abuse she said she suffered. John Michael Siswell says, I know what she's told me and what she told her friends, which was that there was this level of fear that she experienced. His friends, his best friends were there for him

and she didn't feel like those people who are meant to protect her could be there for her without some sort of a bias happening. A bias? That's like putting perfume on the pig. A bias. And it wasn't just the shooting in the arm incident where he went unscathed, all his buddies walking off. I guess they laughed on the way back to the patrol car. Listen to our cut one. This is reporter john papke wvt and NBC 13. Two months ago, police showed up after the man's wife was shot during a fight in their home. That gunfire launched a state investigation on february 23rd.

Hoover police responded to village center street and the Ross bridge community. They found a 31 year old woman shot in the arm. Investigators claim the gun went off while the then-officer, Jason McIntosh, and his wife were fighting over the firearm. She was shot in the arm, like I mentioned. But ultimately, Aaliyah confirmed that the Bessemer District Attorney's Office chose not to prosecute the officer. Then yesterday, officers were called to that home again and found the wife with scrapes and red marks after a fight with McIntosh.

Now McIntosh has been arrested and charged with domestic violence, third degree, a misdemeanor. He was booked into the Hoover City Jail and posted a $1,000 bond an hour later. Now McIntosh resigned from the Hoover Police Department on March 20th. That is less than a month after his wife was shot during that scuffle in their home. So now he's back. You heard not only about the shooting in the arm incident, but then cops are back at the home where she is scraped up and bruised. But yet Jesse Evans, and I'm not shooting you, I'm not cutting off your head, you're just the messenger, but the DA's office chose not to prosecute? What's that about?

That's insane, Nancy. These domestic cases are so predictable. And when you see this history of violence between somebody, listen, Megan Montgomery had a right to live her life violence-free and not terrorized by the person living in her home. We as prosecutors have an obligation to take these cases seriously because they can have the gravest of consequences when you don't. So to say that there's a breakdown here in the system, it would be an understatement. You know, Jesse Evans, former deputy chief assistant D.A. in Cobb County, they have a lot of homicides in Cobb County because it's close to Atlanta. Long story short, Jesse, I remember,

you know, as a felony prosecutor, you know that by the time we get a domestic violence case, it's no longer a simple battery or a shove or a push or a red mark. Somebody's dead or they're ag-assaulted. In other words, they're shot, they're stabbed, and they live through it. I remember distinctly, I had just gotten my own courtroom, and with a great judge, the Honorable Luther Alverson. He was the oldest judge in the courthouse, Jesse. I don't know if you remember him. And therefore, he swore, he swore he would keep the lowest jail count, in other words, the lowest amount of people in jail waiting to be tried in his courtroom.

And he always said, Miss Grace, we've got to keep the lights in the courtroom burning. In other words, we were going to try cases every other week. That's how I ended up trying so many cases, Jesse. So I remember the first time I saw a woman. She was real pale looking, very thin. She came into the courtroom and she had her leg, as I recall, the right leg in a cast from the hip down walking on crutches. I mean, a full on cast. I don't mean a boot on her foot.

I mean, the big, thick, white-on cast. I don't mean a boot on her foot. I mean the big, thick, white, cement-looking cast. She came in with the boyfriend who had done this to her to drop charges. And I looked at them, and I questioned her about, you don't want to, it's already gone through grand jury indictment. That's why I've got it. And I said no. And to the defendant, I said, this is not her decision. She's trying to drop charges against you. I'm the one that's going to put you in jail.

Not her. Not dropping it. So why didn't they do that, Jesse? I couldn't agree more, Nancy. And I'm shocked by the decision making. I always hate to second guess my peers at the same time. You have to take these domestic violence cases seriously. The moment that you don't, they can have tragic consequences. Sure, the victim's sentiments and their wishes are always a factor, but it's never the deciding factor for what we as prosecutors do. And I think that there was a terrible, terrible travesty of justice here that the prosecutors, and this wasn't just a simple battery case, as you noted, this was a case where she was actually shot in the arm. The idea that you would reduce those charges or not take it to the felony level, whatever the victim's wishes are, that's pretty shocking to me. And as hard as domestic violence cases may be to prosecute

because of all of the things that go along with them, sometimes you have to make that tough decision as a prosecutor and say the word, no, I'm not going to let this case go. It's too serious. And while you may not realize the full deadly consequences of what might happen when we fail to prosecute a case, we certainly recognize what those potential consequences are. And we're going to make that tough decision. We should be making that tough decision that we're going for whatever the wishes of the victim may be. Guys, we were talking about the death of a beautiful young woman, Megan Montgomery.

It was so avoidable. Take a listen to Our Cut 7. This is NBC's reporter, Kate Snow. Listen. More women were killed by domestic partners with guns in 2019 than all the people who died in mass shootings that year. What makes you the most angry, Suzanne? That nobody believed Megan.

They weren't on her side, not just Megan. Megan's story has been repeated across this country thousands of times. Earlier this year, Jason McIntosh pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 30 years. Weeks before she died, Megan said she wanted to educate other women about the warning signs of domestic violence. So that's what her family is doing. Her father, Johnny. She's not alive, but she's saving a lot of people right now. Let me also point out, and correct me if I'm wrong, Nicole Parton, Jackie also, he murdered her just 16 days after Hoover police give him back his gun. That's right.

Is that right, Nicole? Only 16 days after his gun is returned. And I think it's also important to note she was doing everything right. She filed the restraining order. She filed for divorce. She moved in with her parents. Then she got her own place. She was trying to do it. She was in counseling for domestic abuse. She was in with her parents. Then she got her own place. She was trying to,

she was in counseling for domestic abuse. She was doing everything she could. While she was doing everything right, he was busy texting the lead detective with the Alabama law enforcement agency, begging for his gun back, texting the lead detective. I need my weapon. I'm going to open a security business. I need my gun. I need my gun. His persistence paid off. And he wound up meeting the lead detective in a parking lot. That lead detective handed him back his weapon. 16 days later, Megan Montgomery is dead. Well, there was a third person in that parking lot, Satan, just hovering, hovering over the moment he convinced the detective to give him back his gun. And let me ask you something, Chris Byers, former police chief, Johns Creek, that doesn't sound official to me. Don't you go back to the courthouse or the DA's office

and get your property? Why do you meet in a parking lot and somebody hands you your gun? Well, what's that? Yeah, that doesn't sound right at all. It sounds like that the Alabama investigative department took his weapon during the investigation of the shooting. Once he was cleared of that and no charges were filed on that, they should have been the one releasing that from the evidence room. You should have been signing vouchers to take possession back. A detective meeting you in a parking lot to return evidence is that shady.

Man, you're not kidding. Jesse Evans, former prosecutor. That's not right. I never met a defendant in a parking lot and gave them their weapon or their crack cocaine or their stolen property no yeah absolutely i mean that's not the way that things are supposed to happen and let's add to it too that there was a restraining order as well so whether the charges were dismissed or not there was absolutely no reason that this should have been given back to them in the first place, much less in a parking lot under these circumstances. That's not how it happened. Even if there's no legal basis to retain that firearm as evidence or because it can't be returned to somebody because of a restraining order, this is just not the way you do it. We have evidence rooms. We have protocols. We have

forms that need to be filled out. You have to make a chain of custody document trail of what happens with these types of things. The idea that you would simply text the lead investigator and meet him in a parking lot, that just screams shady to me. Guys, take a listen to our cut number 11. This is reporter Stoney Sharp, ABC 33 slash 40, about what happened the night Megan is murdered. Mountain Brook police escorted Jason McIntosh into the county jail. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit and his hands and feet were shackled being charged with capital murder. No bond set for the death of Megan Montgomery, his estranged wife. New details this morning, Megan Montgomery's final moments. According to Mountain Brook PD, Montgomery was

last seen at a bar on Highway 280. She left with Macintosh and police now believe the couple went directly to the Mountain Brook Athletic Complex where Montgomery was shot multiple times in the head and Macintosh's attorney now tells us a restraining order was in place demanding both parties to stay away from each other. And today Montgomery's visitation will be held in Homewood. Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Did I hear she was shot in the back? She was, that's correct. She was shot in the back and then in the head multiple times. To you, Dr. Kendall Crowns, renowned medical examiner, deputy chief medical examiner, Travis County.

Dr. Kendall Crown, she's clearly running away from him. She shot in the back. Yeah, that would be what it appears that she had turned away from him and was trying to get away. He probably shot her in the back, dropping her to the ground, and then finished her off by putting more into her head. Guys, take a listen to our friend Kate Snow,

NBC News. This is our cut six. And I hope you're sitting down. A spokesperson for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency told NBC News they had no legal justification to keep the weapon, stating the restraining order Megan had did not restrict Mr. McIntosh's access to firearms. But Alabama law specifically says no person who is subject to a valid protection order for domestic abuse shall own a firearm or have one in his or her possession or under his or her control. The law says this person shouldn't have a gun, period. Lindsay Nichols is federal

policy director at the Giffords Law Center. She says Alabama and 36 other states mirror a federal law that says anyone convicted of a domestic violence crime or subject to a final restraining order is prohibited from possessing a gun. But few states have actual procedures to track abusers and have them surrender their firearms. The federal law that says these people are prohibited from possessing guns, it doesn't automatically make the guns disappear out of their hands. It's as if the mandate is there, but there's no mechanics for how to implement it. That's exactly right. Well, I can tell you this. Handing over a gun to a known domestic terrorist

in a parking lot is not what the statute envisions. Let's just say, Jesse Evans, it's not the spirit of the statute. Would you agree? Oh, I totally agree. And here's the thing about it. If you want to get your firearm back, and I have evidence that you're a domestic abuser, you're going to have to fight for it. You're going to have to get your lawyer involved. This may be something that we as prosecutors force to court. But listen, there's multiple ways to take a firearm, and it's not just pending charges or whether it's collected as evidence of a crime. The existence of a restraining order, whether it's explicit about no firearms or not, the mere existence of it should be a legal basis for not returning that firearm to an abuser so that you can avoid just these kind of malicious circumstances. They didn't see the law because they didn't want to see the law.

They didn't hear the law because they didn't want to hear the law. They didn't act because they didn't want to act. I guess one of their co-workers, Jason McIntosh, Megan Montgomery's estranged husband and cop. Her family devastated, but all I can do is give you this information. Megan's Domestic Violence Prevention Fund is at cfbham.org slash Megan's Fund. National Domestic Violence Hotline, 800-799-SAFE, 800-799-7233. Goodbye, friend.