Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Salt Lake federal judge wondered whether he could increase the sentence of a felon in possession of firearms because the man's wife killed herself with one of his guns.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said he can.
In a ruling handed down Friday, the appeals court said judges have the ability to increase or decrease the suggested punishment in federal sentencing guidelines, as long as the sentence imposed is reasonable.
The ruling means Robert William Montgomery, 27, of Washington County will appear before U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart in Salt Lake City for a new sentencing.
He is serving a 57-month term that was imposed in July 2004, and Stewart could increase the sentence -- but is not required by the higher court's ruling to do so.
Shortly before the original sentencing, Stewart decided he could increase the term by about a year above the maximum 57 months because of the suicide of Nicole Cottam-Montgomery.
He said that Montgomery's escalating abuse of his wife and his threat to take the couple's son from her "created a potent and volatile mixture, ripe for tragedy."
However, Stewart changed his mind about his authority to enhance Montgomery's punishment, deciding that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating parts of Washington state's sentencing guidelines also applied to federal cases.
That Supreme Court ruling said Washington's guidelines violated the right to trial by jury because a judge, rather than jurors, made findings about factors that could enhance a sentence.
Many judges, including Stewart, decided the ruling extended to federal court, whose guidelines are used to calculate sentences based on circumstances such as criminal history and the severity of the crime.
The U.S. attorney appealed Stewart's reversal on the enhancement issue.
The 10th Circuit agreed that the judge was right in the first place.
Cottam-Montgomery, 22, shot herself Sept. 3, 2003, at the couple's home.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
