An ousted St. Louis city sheriff is asking a federal judge to toss the federal charges against him. 

Lawyers for former St. Louis City Sheriff Alfred Montgomery filed a motion to dismiss his federal indictment, arguing his ongoing prosecution violates his Fifth Amendment rights. 

Montgomery is saying he was targeted for political reasons after he refused to step down at the request of the state’s top prosecutor. 

A judge ordered the immediate and permanent removal of Montgomery as sheriff last December after Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office successfully argued he forfeited his office. The ouster followed a quo warranto filed first by former Attorney General Andrew Bailey last June over Montgomery’s alleged involvement in the arrest of Tammy Ross. 

Bailey announced his resignation last August to become co-deputy director of the FBI. Federal prosecutors charged Montgomery with a misdemeanor count of deprivation of rights under color of law just nine days after Bailey joined the FBI, which investigated the case. 

Montgomery’s defense team argues he wouldn’t be under indictment if he weren’t a Democrat or if he had resigned as the attorney general demanded. The filing says two deputies actually carried out the arrest of Ross. 

The so-called “vindictive prosecution” claim centers on five additional felony charges federal prosecutors filed in October.  

The motion argues the government escalated the case in retaliation after Montgomery challenged a court order prohibiting him from possessing a firearm. He exercised his statutory and constitutional rights under the Second Amendment and Bail Reform Act of 1984 to fight the initial bond condition. 

Montgomery’s attorneys want the judge to dismiss the indictments with prejudice, which means the government couldn’t refile the charges. They are seeking an evidentiary hearing and discovery if the court denies the request. The defense wants to find out how the charges were approved and how similar cases involving elected officials have been handled.