The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed the convictions of a former Fort Riley soldier found guilty of murdering a man in front of a Manhattan bar.
In a unanimous opinion released Friday, written by Justice Caleb Stegall, the court upheld Tremelle Montgomery’s conviction of first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 21-year-old Joshua Wardi in the early morning hours of Feb. 5, 2022. The court also affirmed Montgomery’s convictions for three counts of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault.
As previously reported by The Mercury, Montgomery shot and killed Wardi with a 9-mm pistol in front of The Hi Lo bar and restaurant. Montgomery’s additional convictions were for trying to find Wardi’s friend after the shooting. Montgomery said in court he wanted to shoot them “before they could shoot me,” despite each person being unarmed.
The high court assumed the Riley County District Court erred by failing to provide jurors instructions on voluntary manslaughter based on imperfect self-defense, justices concluded that the error was harmless and did not influence the verdict. The opinion also found that the district court acted properly in declining to give a self-defense instruction pursuant to K.S.A. 21-5222. According to the ruling, the trial record showed no evidence that a reasonable person would have believed deadly force was necessary under the circumstances.
Additionally, the court determined that sufficient evidence supported the attempted murder charges.
The court also addressed an instance of judicial error during the trial, when a judge told a juror that Montgomery could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. While the justices agreed the comment was improper, they said it was promptly corrected and did not prejudice the jury.