Norfolk, Va. (WTKR) - One week after the Court of Appeals of Virginia issued Johnathan Montgomery a Writ of Actual Innocence, his family is expressing frustration with the 'brick walls' they say they've encountered when trying to get his name removed from sex-offender registries and taken off probation.
"It’s almost night and day. You go from the greatest show you could possibly have other than having the birth of a child. He’s finally declared innocent and we feel like we can get on with our lives and now we are hitting all these brick walls," explained his father David Montgomery.
He says that Montgomery's name was taken off the online Florida sex-offender registry but is still listed on North Carolina's. He says the family was told it would remain that way pending an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigations.
"It’s just like climbing mountains all over again trying to convince everyone that this is legitimate and that he’s not supposed to be on the registry anymore, he’s not supposed to be on probation anymore," David Montgomery stated.
David Montgomery says he thought the process would be automatic, but his family has found it is far from that.
"It’s not happening as quickly as we would think or hope it would have," David Montgomery said. "In a nutshell, he’s still in a virtual prison. He can’t go anywhere, he can’t do anything because he’s not free."
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