On June 29, 2009, Jermaine L. Montgomery entered guilty pleas to capital murder (robbery), robbery and abduction and avoided the death penalty in the abduction murder of Yong Zhang, a deliveryman for his family's restaurant.  The case had received widespread publicity due to allegations of mutilation and torture.  Prosecutors from Fredericksburg, where Mr. Zhan was abducted, Sussex Co., where his body was found, and Spotsylvania Co., where he was murdered, all made public statements that the defendant deserved to die.  Media attention also focused on the victims' family who also expressed opinions in favor of the death penalty.
 
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/062009/06302009/476224/index_html
 
From the outset, the case was complicated by the widely disseminated view that Montgomery tortured the victim and then mutilated his body after murdering him.  Over Commonwealth objection, the defense sought and obtained funds to hire a forensic pathologist, forensic entomologist, and a forensic ornithologist to examine the evidence.  Subsequently, and again over the Commonwealth's objection, the defense moved to preclude evidence of mutilation/torture and presented testimony from 5 forensic experts, all of whom had concluded that the alleged mutilation was caused by vultures.
 
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/062009/06172009/473925/index_html
 
In addition to securing the ruling precluding evidence of torture/mutilation, prior to the entry of the plea the defense secured several notable orders, all over the Commonwealth's objection, including: (1) an order granting ex parte hearings for funds expert services and defense resources; (2) an order granting ex parte subpoena duces tecums; (3) discovery of Virginia Departmentt of Corrections records relating to incidents of violence in the correctional system; (4) an order granting a bifurcated sentencing with separate opening and closing statements, instructions, and deliberations on eligibility and selection; (5) an order granting funding, not to exceed $5,000, for defense initiated victim outreach (victim liaison traveled to China to meet with the victim's family); (6) an order granting discovery of any information related to "snitches"; and (7) an order granting the defense access to grand jurors for interviews.
 
Mr. Montgomery was represented by Joseph Flood and Mark Gardner, and by Matthew Engle of the NoVa Capital Defender Office.