UPDATED - MURFREESBORO, TN - A woman who was convicted for the rape of her son in Rutherford County between 1999 and 2003, has filed another appeal after previous appeals were denied. The victim in the case first told his stepmother about the abuse, which is what led to the original investigation by the Department of Children's Services and then the Murfreesboro Police Department.
Murfreesboro Detectives Tommy Roberts and Wayne Lawson, who are now retired spent 8-months investigating the Angela Montgomery case, even though Montgomery reportedly moved from the Murfreesboro area to Portland, Oregon after the accusations of rape arose.
As the detectives painstakingly uncovered every detail, they learned the 52-year-old mother, who is 61-today, had raped her son multiple times, leading to 20 counts of Rape of a Child and 6 counts of Rape. And that abuse was said to have begun when the victim brought home a permission slip for a sexual education class at his elementary school. Although the child was well under the age of 13 at the time, Ms. Montgomery evidently had other intentions about sex education, according to original court documents.
In 2015, Montgomery was found guilty on six counts of Rape of a Child and the additional 14 counts of Rape of a Child were dismissed. At the time of the crime, the child would have been between the ages of 9 and 13. The now adult victim previously told the courts the abuse also happened to his siblings. Ultimately, Montgomery was sentenced to forty years’ of imprisonment.
During sentencing in 2015 the son who was now an adult, gave a strong impact statement suggesting the abuse began when he was only 5-years-old. Alan Von Webb also said, “For the next 40 years, children out there are safe, and she can’t get her hands on them, and that’s all I really wanted.” State records show she will be behind bars until she is 90-years-old.
In Montgomery's past request for a new trial, she argued there was not enough evidence to support her convictions of Rape of a Child. She also argued ineffective assistance of counsel and the State should not have presented information to the jury about her alleged corporal punishment habits that involved her kids. However, her appeal was denied.
Late last month on August 21, 2023, the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee sided with the lower post conviction court. According to last months filing by the Clerk of the Appellate Courts, the judgment of the post-conviction court was affirmed. Due to the recent ruling, the case will not move forward.
More Details on the Appeal - Court documents show that Montgomery relied on the prison law clerk's knowledge of the post-conviction process which caused her to file her petition late. Accordingly, “it was a misunderstanding of the... date when the statute began to run that led to Petitioner’s late filing, which does not entitle her to due process tolling...” of her late filed petition. Again, the case will not move forward.
Source: No. M2022-00780-CCA-R3-PC, No. M2020-00427-CCA-R3-PC
