Accused Cop Killer Monfort Speaks In Court For First Time Since Shooting (March 11, 2010) |
SEATTLE—
The man accused of killing Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton spoke out in court Thursday -- in a talk ranging from the Preamble to the United States Constitiution, dictatorships, free speech and police misconduct --- just before a hearing in King County Superior Court.Christopher Monfort is charged with aggravated murder, which carries the possibility of a death penalty if he is convicted.
The 41-year-old was in a wheelchair, as he was in December when he pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Monfort was carrying out a vendetta against police when pulled alongside Brenton's car on Halloween and fatally shot him and wounded another officer.
He was paralyzed by a detective's bullet after he pulled a gun on officers who confronted him in November outside his Tukwila apartment.
During the several-minute-long monologue, Monfort apparently refers to a video of former King County Deputy Paul Schene and Deputy Travis Brunner.
"Police in our society are our employees. They work for us," Monfort said as he sat in the courtroom. "We depend on them to do the exact opposite of what Deputy Schene and Deputy Brunner did," Monfort said.
In the video, Schene and Brunner escort a 15-year-old girl into a holding cell. Schene asked her to remove her basketball shoes, and, as she slipped out of her left shoe, she appeared to kick it at Schene.
Schene then lunged through the door and kicked and hit her in the stomach or thigh, pushed her against a corner wall, then flung her to the floor by her hair, squatted down and made two "overhead strikes".
At Schene's trial, which ended with a hung jury, Schene's attorneys told jurors the deputy did exactly what he was trained to do.
Monfort is also accused of firebombing police vehicles in October in a maintenance yard.
