'Justice for Mikey': Montgomery found guilty on two murder counts

Timothy Montgomery has been found guilty on two counts of murder in the October 2021 beating of Michael “Mikey” Benedict.

Montgomery, 50, Crestline, was found not guilty of aggravated murder, a charge that specified the killing was planned. He was found guilty on two murder charges, one of which required the jury to find the killing was done purposefully; the second of which required them to find the death was the result of a felonious assault committed by the accused. Each charge is an unclassified felony.

“It was about getting justice for Mikey. I think we've done that,” Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall said after the verdict was announced Thursday, thanking Dan Stanley, the assistant prosecutor who handled the case; Det. Jason Kitzmiller and the rest of the Crestline Police Department; the Crawford County Sheriff's Office; and his staff for their work on the case.

Terry Hitchman, Montgomery's attorney, said he was aware of some appellate issues in the case, so another lawyer will be appointed to help Montgomery with an appeal.

Life in prison is the expected sentence

"We'll respect the jury's verdict; they obviously took a fair amount of time in deliberating and looking through all of the evidence, so they found what they found. I can't argue with that," Hitchman said.

Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold said a sentencing hearing would be scheduled in a week or two, but to his understanding, the only sentencing option will be life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

The jury deliberated for slightly less than four hours before returning the verdict on Thursday afternoon.

Leuthold handed the case to the jury around 10:20 a.m. Thursday following closing arguments by the prosecution and defense. The trial began Monday.

"You must consider each count and the evidence applicable to each count separately, and you much state your finding as each count uninfluenced by your verdict as to any other count," Leuthold said in his instructions to the jury. He also told the jury that whether they believed the defendant to be guilty of being the principal culprit or merely someone who aided or abetted someone else in committing the crime, the verdict would be the same: guilty.

To find the defendant guilty of the aggravated murder count, he said, jurors would need to find evidence of prior calculation

'This case is about who caused the death of Mikey Benedict'

Benedict, a 40-year-old Crawford County native, was found unconscious by Crestline police investigating a 911 report of a beating shortly after 2:20 a.m. Oct. 10, 2021. The beating followed an incident at Just Jokin' Bar and Grill. He died on Nov. 4, 2021.

In November 2021, Montgomery and two others were indicted on the same three murder charges. The trial of Montgomery's wife, Jacqueline Dawn Montgomery, 44, is scheduled to begin March 6.

The other man charged in the case, Cameron Davis, 32, agreed to testify in exchange for a plea agreement. During his testimony on Wednesday, Davis said he had agreed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault and obstruction of justice in exchange for a 20-year sentence, but he could be eligible for judicial release in 10 years.

Stanley, an assistant prosecutor, started his closing arguments by showing jurors an image of the victim pulled from police video taken shortly before the beating.

"While this case is about who caused a death, this case is about who caused the death of Mikey Benedict," he said.

Jurors would have to decide which witnesses they considered credible, Stanley said, but they could base their decision solely on the videos taken before and after the beating, the 911 call made by witness Kris Kegley and other evidence to find Montgomery guilty, he argued.

"There are about 14 different choices that could have been made by various different people in this case and Michael Benedict would still be alive today," Stanley said. "But the choice you're to decide today is the choice Timothy Montgomery took outside of Kegley's house; the choice he took to take this man's life."

In his closing arguments, Hitchman argued the state failed to prove Montgomery played any role in the assault. He enumerated the many times that Davis, immediately following his arrest, told police he was the only assailant. Hitchman also questioned whether Kegley could have seen the fight clearly, given the darkness and distance from his home.

"The awful truth in this case is that Mr. Benedict died. There's another awful truth. Tim Montgomery walked away from him that night. Now, Tim is not charged with his lack of compassion," Hitchman said.

ggoble@gannett.com

419-559-7263

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Jury finds Montgomery guilty of murder in Benedict beating death