Brian Keith Montgomery 1988 booking photo
EL DORADO HILLS — A man who has been incarcerated for more than 25 years for shooting an El Dorado County Sheriff’s Deputy, has been denied parole once again on March 3, 2016.
This was the eighth parole denial for Brian Keith Montgomery, 49, who shot Deputy Robert Pepper on December 4, 1990. Pepper had stopped Montgomery for speeding in Somerset, which is located 17 miles south of Placerville.
When the deputy approached Montgomery’s vehicle, Montgomery fired a .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle through the car window at point blank range.
Pepper sustained nine wounds to his chest, shoulder, side, abdomen and back. Montgomery was captured the next day.
Pepper recovered and was back on duty by the time Montgomery was sentenced a year later.
Montgomery told prison personnel that he was high on methamphetamine and thought Pepper was going to shoot him, which is why he fired first.
Montgomery has been serving his sentence at California State Prison, Solano, in Vacaville.
Pepper, who is now retired, spoke at the hearing by phone and urged the board to deny Montgomery’s parole.
In arguing that Montgomery still represents a threat to the public, the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office said that only six months ago, he was caught fighting with another inmate. The board denied parole saying Montgomery still does not have proper insight in why he committed the crime.
This was the first shooting of an El Dorado County officer since 1864, when Deputy Joe Staples was fatally shot after pursuing men who had just robbed a stagecoach.
