County attorney speaks about freeway shootings case

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - It was a stunning decision, all charges against the man accused of being the freeway shooter were dropped. Now lawyers for Leslie Merritt Jr. want sealed documents made public.

They say the documents will further prove that their client was not the freeway shooter. And Maricopa County Bill Montgomery is speaking out about the case.

Prosecutors dropped the case, with prejudice, that means they could charge him again if they come up with better evidence.

Twenty-one-year-old Leslie Merritt Jr. got out of jail because an expert paid by the state had doubts about ballistic evidence, the evidence that landed Merritt behind bars.

The judge ordered his release, so where does the freeway shootings investigation stand now. Is Merritt still the focus? And does the Maricopa County attorney feel bad that Merritt spent months in jail? These are all questions that Montgomery did not answer.

"Attorneys in general, which includes prosecutors, don't have to tell the defense the mental impressions, evidence strategies, or how evidence will be presented to a jury, I am not going to waive that privilege to answer questions today, or any other day while that case is still pending," said Bill Montgomery.

By taking this stand, Montgomery did not have to get into whether the state had blundered bringing charges against Merritt.

"If this was a game, a sporting contest, an effort to provide bread and circuses to the masses we could drag this out several more months before the state would go to trial and be forced to put up or shut up, and that is what did not or will not happen as long as I am county attorney for this office," said Montgomery.

Montgomery stressed that the investigation into the freeway shootings is continuing, but that is all he said.