Suspect in February Homicide Pleads Not Guilty
Man accused of killing Deoni Jones, a transgender woman, at D.C. bus stop in February makes Friday court appearance
The man accused of fatally stabbing Deoni Jones, a transgender woman, at a Northeast D.C. bus stop in February pleaded not guilty this morning to a charge of first-degree murder while armed.
Gary Niles Montgomery, 55, appeared in D.C. Superior Court for a felony arraignment for allegedly carrying out the premeditated murder of Jones. He was indicted on the single charge by a grand jury Nov. 7.
Anthony Matthews, Montgomery’s lawyer, waived a formal reading of the indictment and asserted his client’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to not be forced to incriminate himself and to a fair and speedy trial.
Judge Robert Morin scheduled two pre-trial status hearings for Montgomery, Nov. 30 and Jan. 18. Montgomery will be held without bond while he awaits trial.
According to charging documents, two witnesses passing by a bus stop at the intersection of Sycamore Road NE and East Capitol Street NE, in the city’s Benning Heights neighborhood, Feb. 2 at 8 p.m., saw a man matching Montgomery’s description strike Jones in the head and Jones fall to the ground. One witness tried to help Jones, but realized she had been stabbed in the head.
The other witness saw the attacker drop a bag and begin running. He chased the man, temporarily detaining him until the first witness cried out for help, at which time the attacker escaped.
A Metro Transit Police Department officer on patrol responded to the scene and called for D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Paramedics took Jones to Prince George’s County Hospital Center in Cheverly, Md., where she died of her injuries at 2:35 a.m., Feb. 3.
Following Jones’s death, the Metropolitan Police Department reviewed video surveillance of the bus stop and released a portion of it for public viewing in order to identify the suspect in the video. Three other witnesses, including one who had been at the bus stop along with Montgomery and Jones earlier that evening, positively identified Montgomery as the man from the surveillance video, leading to his arrest.
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