Evidence Tossed in Charlotte Cop Killer Trial, Judge Rules Out Death Penalty

Judge Forrest Bridges ruled this afternoon that Demeatrius Montgomery should not face the death penalty because of an investigator's misconduct during the investigation into the 2007 killings of two Charlotte police officers.

The trial will continue but the judge found the investigator's mishandling of evidence in the case serious enough to take the death penalty off the table.

The trial opened Monday with a series of motions, including one alleging that an investigator threw away notes that may have contained information about another possible suspect in the killings.

Arvin Fant, the former homicide detective who has been sent back to patrol, added a new surprise to the proceedings this morning when he phoned his supervisors and suggested they retrieve a box of files near his desk. The files, he explained, might contain more of his investigative notes on the police shootings.

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