Woman to serve 2 months for perjury in innocence case
BY FRANK GREENRichmond Times-Dispatch | Posted: Monday, August 19, 2013 3:35 pm
HAMPTON -- Elizabeth Paige Coast was sentenced to two months in jail and ordered to make $90,000 in restitution to an innocent man who spent four years behind bars for a lie that snowballed.
Coast, 26, pleaded guilty to perjury in May and was sentenced today by Hampton Circuit Court Judge Bonnie L. Jones, who said she was deeply disturbed the case.
"This goes to the very heart of our judicial system,"
the judge said before imposing a five-year sentence and suspending all
but two months which Coast will be allowed to serve on weekends.
The sentencing clears the way for the Virginia Court
of Appeals to consider a petition for a writ of actual innocence filed
by Johnathan C. Montgomery, a former neighbor of Coast accused of
assaulting her in 2000 when she was 10 years old and he was 14.
Coast was charged with perjury after admitting to
authorities last year that she made up the story that Montgomery had
sexually assaulted her and that she lied on the witness stand at his
June 23, 2008, trial.
"There are no words that I can say that will erase
the damage I've done," a tearful Coast told the judge reading from a
written statement. Facing up to 10 years in prison, he did not ask Jones
for mercy.
Instead, focusing her remarks on Montgomery, Coast
said, "I am ashamed for my cowardice. ... I want you to know I never
meant to hurt you."
"I had no idea how far this lie would go," she said.
Earlier, Coast took the stand and under questioning
by her lawyer, Ronald Smith, Coast said the whole thing started when she
was 17 years old and was caught reading adult material on the Internet
by her mother, who Coast described as strict and religious.
Her mother wanted to know why she was viewing the
material and suggested perhaps that she been sexually assaulted. She
said yes, hoping the matter would drop, but her mother kept pressing her
for more information.
Under pressure for the name of her assailant she gave hem Montgomery's name, someone who had moved away years earlier.
"I just thought it would go away," she said. When
Montgomery, who had moved to Florida, was arrested she said she stuck
with the story out of fear.
"I was petrified of the police ... everyone in my life knew," she said. "I was afraid of what my family would think," she said.
She lied in court, the judge took her word over Montgomery's and convicted him.
Coast said, "I never forgot about Johnathan and my life was wrecked by it ... and so was his."
Smith told the judge the sentencing guidelines called
for no jail time and asked she be given an alternative sentence that
would allow her to make restitution.
Also, he said, "If you put her in jail the message
you send to other people who have done this ... if you come forward
we're going to lock you up."
The special prosecutor in the case, Hopewell
Commonwealth's Attorney Richard K. Newman, said he agreed with much of
what Smith said. "I've wrestled with this," he said of he case.
Nevertheless, he asked for a 10-year sentence with six years suspended so she would serve the same length of time as Montgomery.
Just prior to sentencing Coast, Jones asked, "What do I do? Is it an eye for an eye, or is there room for compassion?"
Her conviction and sentencing support the contention
her trial testimony was a lie and her recantation the truth. The
Virginia Attorney General's Office and Montgomery's lawyers asked the
court of appeals to delay considering the petition until the perjury
charge was resolved.
Montgomery was released from prison on a conditional
pardon from Gov. Bob McDonnell pending the outcome of his petition for a
writ of actual innocence.
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