Heroin ringleader and convicted killer to get new trial on gun count

A Mount Washington heroin kingpin convicted of murdering a federal witness six years ago will get a new trial on one of the counts against him, as will his right-hand man in the drug operation, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Price Montgomery and James Perrin won new trials on gun possession counts only.

The convictions on other charges, including the murder of witness Tina Crawford in 2014, will stand.

Both were convicted in 2018 on numerous conspiracy-related drug and gun counts related to running an interstate heroin ring supplied from New Jersey. Both are awaiting sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak granted the motions for a new trial because of a 2019 Supreme Court decision in a Florida case in which the justices said the government must prove that someone prohibited from having a gun was aware that he can’t have one.

Prior to that decision, it was enough for prosecutors to show a defendant had a felony record or was otherwise prohibited from having a gun and that he got caught with one. Proof of knowledge wasn’t required.

The judge said that in his jury instructions he had told jurors they didn’t need to determine that Montgomery and Perrin, both felons, knew they were prohibited from having guns.

“The process by which the accused is convicted of a crime against the United States is a demanding one,” he said. “And that process does not allow a judge to, in effect, determine guilt by considering evidence never presented to the jury, in order to find an element not only omitted from the jury’s instructions but stated by the court to the direct opposite effect.”

The decision might not change the sentences the men receive, but the judge said “the facts of this case require granting the new trial motions.”

Montgomery was convicted of gunning down Ms. Crawford, his drug courier on trips to New Jersey, an hour before she was going to meet with a federal prosecutor about his drug ring on Aug. 22, 2014. Prosecutors have said he and Glenn Thomas shot Ms. Crawford and her mother multiple times in the Hill District in an execution-style hit. Her mother, Patsy, survived.

Glenn Thomas has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact for ditching the getaway car in Virginia, although the U.S. attorney’s office said it intends to show he was the second shooter when he is sentenced.

Perrin, whose nickname was heard numerous times on wiretaps, was not charged in the killing, but was identified as Montgomery’s top lieutenant in the drug operation, dealing drugs and securing weapons.