Northshore District Attorney Warren Montgomery dies at 67 | One Tammany
Warren Montgomery, a former federal prosecutor who beat three challengers in 2014 to take over the scandal-plagued northshore District attorney’s Office, has died at the age of 67.
Chief Judge William “Billy” Burris of the 22nd Judicial District confirmed Saturday morning that he had been notified by Montgomery’s office of the death. He did not provide a cause.
A native of Metairie and a longtime St. Tammany Parish resident, Montgomery had been district attorney in the 22nd Judicial District, which includes St. Tammany and Washington parishes, since 2015. By law, the office will be helmed for now by Montgomery’s first assistant, Collin Sims, until an election for the remaining half of Montgomery’s second six-year term can be held.
Montgomery was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2019, which eventually spread to his lungs. He subsequently underwent treatment several times at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“It is with great sadness that I confirm Warren has passed away,” Sims said via text message Saturday.
Parish Council Chairman Jake Airey described Montgomery as the kind of person who “was always congenial and never failed to ask how you or your family were doing — even when he was not feeling well from his treatments.”
“He cared deeply about the St. Tammany Parish District attorney’s office and he will be missed,” Airey added. “We send our prayers to his family in their moment of grief, and our thanks to them for allowing him to serve.”
Montgomery’s January 2015 swearing-in marked a dramatic and ceremonial end of the three-decade tenure of former District attorney Walter Reed, one of the northshore’s most powerful and controversial political figures. Beset by a federal investigation, Reed had opted not to seek a sixth term in office, which opened the door to a bruising 2014 DA’s election.
Warren Montgomery kisses and thanks his wife Valarie Montgomery before he gives a speech after his victory in the 22nd Judicial District attorney Race, at Benedict’s Plantation in Mandeville, La., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Montgomery, a political outsider, found himself in that race with three other candidates.
During the campaign, Montgomery, a Republican, embraced his outsider status, and painted himself a fresh face who would on bringing reform to the office. The message hit home with northshore voters, and Montgomery made it to the runoff, where he defeated Brian Trainor, the front-runner in the primary who was considered the favorite to win, in a brutal runoff campaign. Trainor had been then-Sheriff Jack Strain’s chief deputy.
Reed was subsequently convicted on corruption charges in 2017. The case against him had two main prongs: He was charged with using his campaign account for personal benefit, and he also was being paid personally by a public hospital in St. Tammany for legal work performed by an assistant. He was found guilty of both.
Through a series of new policies and staff shakeups, Montgomery said he changed the culture of the DA’s office, in the process helping restore the public’s confidence.
Warren Montgomery, the District attorney for the 22nd Judicial District, reads a legal brief in his office in Covington, La. Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. Montgomery is running for reelection to maintain the position. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
After Montgomery’s cancer diagnosis, there had been speculation in the parish that he would not seek reelection. But doctors gave him the green light, he said, and he defeated Vincent Wynne in November 2020 to win a second six-year term.
During his time at the helm, Montgomery’s prosecution of Strain, the longtime former sheriff, on child rape charges, was easily the highest-profile case his office handled.
Strain, one of the most powerful officials in St. Tammany before losing his bid for a sixth term in office in 2015, was charged with eight sex crimes against boys, including four cases of rape. After a riveting, 10-day trial in 2021, a St. Tammany Parish jury convicted Strain on all charges. He is serving a life sentence in prison.
Moments after Strain’s conviction, Montgomery held a news conference on the steps of the St. Tammany Parish courthouse in Covington.
Prosecuting even so powerful a figure as Strain, he said, was part of the job.
The verdict, Montgomery said, “shows that no one is above the law and it also shows that our system – through not perfect – works.”
A 1973 graduate of Jesuit High School in New Orleans, Montgomery attended LSU, where he earned economics and law degrees.
Montgomery served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. attorney’s Office in New Orleans and ran a private law practice in Covington before running for DA.
Following his reelection win in November 2020, Montgomery talked about his cancer diagnosis with a reporter.
“The purpose of life isn’t to win or lose,” Montgomery told the reporter. “You do the best you can with what you have, and whatever the result is, you don’t look back. And you’re at peace.”
Montgomery is survived by his wife, Valerie Montgomery. They have four children, according to Montgomery’s campaign bio.
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