D.C. Court Orders Suspect in Transgender Stabbing To Undergo Mental Observation

Gary Niles Montgomery, the 55-year-old Washington man accused of fatally stabbing transgender woman Deoni Jones, aka JaParker, at a Northeast bus stop in February 2012, appeared in court Friday morning, where his lawyers convinced U.S. Superior Court Judge Robert Morin to order Montgomery to submit to a mental-observation screening.

After hearing arguments from Montgomery's lawyers regarding their client's mental state, Morin ordered two separate hearings for Montgomery, one Jan. 24, for screening purposes only, and a mental observation hearing on Feb. 8. Last year, Morin found Montgomery competent to stand trial, based on the results of two separate mental-observation hearings.

Montgomery, who in November pleaded not guilty after being indicted on a charge of first-degree murder while armed, remains held without bond as he awaits trial, scheduled for June 10.

According to charging documents, two witnesses passing by a bus stop at the intersection of Sycamore Road and East Capitol Street NE on Feb. 2, 2012, saw a man matching Montgomery's description strike Jones in the head, after which Jones fell to the ground.

Jones was transported to Prince George's County Hospital Center in Cheverly, Md., where she died of her injuries six hours later.

Alvin Bethea, Jones's father, recently announced that friends and family of Jones will be holding a memorial vigil for Jones at the bus stop where she was killed, marking the one-year anniversary of her death. That vigil is scheduled for Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m.