Jason Bragg McIntosh former Alabama cop pleads guilty to shooting murder of estranged wife Megan Louise Montgomery at Mountain Brook parking lot. Had faced capital death. Incidence of domestic violence.
An Alabama cop who fatally shot his estranged wife in a parking lot after forcing her to leave an oyster bar while with friends has pleaded guilty to her murder.
Jason Bragg McIntosh pleaded guilty to murder as part of an agreement that puts him behind bars for 30 years.
The 46-year-old murdered his 31-year-old estranged wife, Megan Louise Montgomery, in December 2019 after marching her out of a bar where she was drinking with her friends in Mountain Brook, Alabama, and driving her to a parking lot where he beat her and shot her in the head.
Chief Ted Cook of the Mountain Brook Police Department said Montgomery was shot multiple times — once in the back and multiple times in the head.
Obtained surveillance video showed Montgomery appeared to have left the restaurant with McIntosh voluntarily, although her credit card was left at the restaurant and her car was left in the Courtyard 280 parking lot.
Rising domestic incidents in fractured relationship
McIntosh turned himself over to law enforcement shortly after Montgomery’s body was found.
The shooting murder came weeks after Megan complaining to police that McIntosh was violent along with her taking out a restraining order against him.
Nine months before she died, McIntosh left his job in the police force after shooting her in the arm.
On Wednesday, a judge accepted the plea deal which had the former cop admit murder but not capital murder. Had McIntosh been convicted of capital murder, the former police officer would have faced the death penalty.
The judge approved the agreement Wednesday. McIntosh waived his right to appeal, WBRC reported.
The pair were married on February 2, 2018, and separated a year later on February 23, the same day as police were called to their home to reports that McIntosh – then an officer – had shot Montgomery in the arm.
Police reports show McIntosh told officers he and Montgomery were involved in a domestic incident and were wrestling over a handgun when it fired. He was placed on leave pending the outcome of that investigation but resigned two days later.
Coping with domestic violence
Investigators said they later determined Montgomery had been the ‘aggressor’ in the dispute, while Montgomery declined to press charges against McIntosh.
The following month Montgomery obtained a restraining order against McIntosh, seeking protection from him ‘harassing, annoying, assaulting, striking, hitting, intimidating, threatening, interfering with, telephoning or in any fashion harming or contacting’ her.
Montgomery officially began the process of filing for a divorce in May, but court records cited by AL.com show the case was still active at the time of her death.
Two days after the filing, McIntosh was taken into custody once again on a domestic violence charge. Police say interviews with the pair determined that a verbal argument escalated into a physical confrontation in the early hours of the morning.
Montgomery suffered scrapes and red marks all over her body but was said to have refused medical attention. McIntosh, meanwhile, was taken into custody and charged with third-degree domestic violence.
In addition to posting about her passions of fitness and volunteering, Montgomery dedicated a number of Instagram posts and stories to raise awareness about the warnings signs of violent relationships and how difficult it can be to escape them.
