JUSTIN'S STORY

Justin Montgomery was raised in the Baldwin Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. He grew up surrounded by family, friends, challenges, and dreams for a better future. After graduating from View Park High School, Justin was preparing to enter adulthood, build a career, support his family, and create a meaningful life for himself.
He had no way of knowing that his freedom—and nearly his entire adult life—would soon be taken from him.

Justin was only 18 years old when he was arrested and entered the criminal justice system. Instead of beginning adulthood with freedom, opportunity, and time with his loved ones, he was sentenced to decades behind prison walls.
Justin has consistently maintained that he was wrongfully convicted. His case relied heavily on testimony from LAPD officers. Information that emerged later, including audio recordings discussed in news reporting, raised serious questions about whether important parts of that testimony were accurate and whether the complete evidence was properly considered during his trial.
Despite those questions, Justin remained incarcerated.

Justin entered prison as a teenager. On August 21, he will turn 40 years old after spending more than 21 years incarcerated.
He has lived his entire adult life behind bars. He has missed birthdays, holidays, graduations, family celebrations, and countless ordinary moments that can never be replaced. He became a father and grandfather while separated from the people he loves.
These are not simply numbers on a calendar. They represent more than two decades of a human life.

Prison has never defined the full measure of Justin Montgomery.
Justin is a father, grandfather, loyal friend, entrepreneur, business owner, employer, philanthropist, and community supporter. Despite the limitations of incarceration, he has continued learning, building business ideas, encouraging others, and looking for ways to give back.
He has participated in personal-development and entrepreneurship efforts and has supported nonprofit work from behind prison walls. His accomplishments reflect his determination to grow, lead, and contribute—even while living under circumstances designed to limit his opportunities.
Justin is not only a conviction, a sentence, or an identification number. He is a man with a family, a purpose, a voice, and a future worth fighting fo

For years, Justin has submitted petitions, letters, records, and requests asking the courts and public officials to examine the concerns surrounding his conviction. He believes evidence that challenged the officers’ testimony was never given the full consideration it deserved.
Many of his efforts appeared to fall on deaf ears.
While continuing to challenge his conviction, Justin and his supporters began closely comparing the charging documents, jury verdict forms, sentencing transcript, clerk’s minute order, and abstract of judgment. That review raised another serious concern: whether his sentence of 45 years to life actually matches the charges and findings returned by the jury.
Justin’s position is that the jury did not make the findings necessary to support the life sentence imposed. He is asking for the record to be reviewed document by document so the sentence can be measured against what was charged, what the jury decided, and what the law authorized.
This is not merely a disagreement over paperwork. It concerns years of a person’s life.

years he has already lost. He cannot return to the age of 18 or relive the family milestones he missed. But he has not stopped fighting to be heard.
He continues seeking a meaningful review of the evidence, accountability for the questions raised by the record, and a fair sentence that reflects the jury’s actual findings.
Justice for Justin was created to bring his story and court documents into the public light. We invite people to learn about Justin, read the record for themselves, ask the questions that have remained unanswered, and help seek a fair resolution.
Justin is more than a prison number.
He is a father. A grandfather. A friend. An entrepreneur. A community supporter. And a man who has spent more than half his life fighting for someone to finally examine the complete record.
His story deserves to be heard. His record deserves to be reviewed. His life is worth fighting for.