Criminal JusticeLive 5 News: Man sentenced to 30 years for stabbing music director to death

By Ray Rivera | June 7, 2011 at 1:31 AM EDT – Updated June 24 at 8:32 AM

 

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – A 30-year-old man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murdering a church music director who was found stabbed 92 times.

Tommy Montgomery pleaded guilty, but mentally ill to murder on Monday.

According to doctors, Montgomery suffered from depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Montgomery will serve the full sentence in the South Carolina Department of Corrections and will receive psychiatric treatment while in prison.

According to Assistant Solicitors Burns Wetmore and Spencer Compton who prosecuted the case, the victim, Brandon Jamison, was the music director at the church that Montgomery attended. In the summer of 2009, Montgomery needed a place to stay, and Jamison allowed Montgomery to live in his apartment.

Authorities say on the night of Dec. 7, 2009, Montgomery became enraged and attacked Jamison, stabbing him to death. An autopsy revealed that Jamison was stabbed 92 times which included several defensive wounds to the hands and 26 wounds to the back. According to investigators, after the stabbing, Montgomery stole Jamison’s vehicle and fled the scene.

Montgomery turned himself in at the North Charleston Police Department the next morning and confessed to killing Jamison.

“This was a completely senseless and particularly gruesome Murder,” Assistant Solicitor Wetmore said. “Montgomery lashed out at someone who had been kind to him. I hope that the victim’s family will have some peace now that this matter has been resolved.”

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