A parolee nicknamed Goat who stabbed a neighbor to death in North Little Rock last year has accepted a prison sentence that will keep him behind bars until he is at least 70.
Sentencing papers filed Aug. 9 by deputy prosecutor Christy Bjornson show that Leslie Montgomery of North Little Rock pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing Andre Rogers on Aug. 31, 2018. Montgomery was arrested about 13 hours after Rogers was found fatally wounded, and he has been jailed ever since.
Under the plea agreement negotiated by Montgomery's attorneys Lott Rolfe and Bret Qualls, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright sentenced Montgomery to 30 years in prison. Montgomery, who turned 50 last week, must serve at least 70 percent of that term, or 21 years, before he can apply for parole.
Montgomery has 13 prior convictions, and the murder sentence is the fifth time he's been sent to prison since his first incarceration in August 1986 when, at age 17, he was sentenced to 10 years for two burglaries and three thefts committed while he was on probation for two other burglaries.
Montgomery was sent back to the penitentiary in May 1989 on a 20-year sentence for kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault committed as a 19-year-old parolee in December 1988.
His third prison sentence, for 30 years, came in January 1998, when he pleaded no contest to aggravated robbery.
A little more than three years later, Montgomery received his fourth prison sentence. While behind bars, he pleaded guilty to possession of weapons by an incarcerated person in exchange for a 30-month sentence.
He was next approved for parole in May 2017.
About 16 months later, Rogers, 38, wearing only his underwear and shoes, was found fatally wounded in the parking lot of the Ridgeview Apartments at 4705 Augusta Circle, where Montgomery, who listed his employment as a butcher for Edwards Cash Saver grocery, was a tenant, police reports show.
Rogers had been stabbed six times in the neck, chest and back. A witness told police he saw a bald man drag the victim between two cars in the lot then rifle through Rogers' pockets and remove his pants, court filings show. The witness said he walked away when the assailant noticed he was watching.
Rogers lived about a quarter-mile away from where he was found, residing in the portion of the Ridgeview complex at 4917 Arrowhead Place where police found his roommate, Daniel C. Perry Jr.
Perry, 42, told police that he'd last seen Rogers in a newer model black sedan with a bald man that Perry only knew as Goat, which investigators knew was Montgomery's nickname.
Police found Montgomery about 13 hours after the slaying. Montgomery was driving near his apartment in a black 2018 Ford Focus with paper tags that had expired five days earlier, according to a police report.
In the car, officers found methamphetamine, cocaine and PCP. Investigators also found Rogers' blood on the outside of the passenger door.
Montgomery told detectives that he had stabbed Rogers during an argument but that Rogers had been the aggressor.
Metro on 08/18/2019