St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery's lawyers present evidence against nepotism

ST. LOUIS - Attorneys for St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery claim to have new evidence that disproves a nepotism allegation made by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

The nepotism claim is part of a lawsuit filed by Bailey in June, outlining six counts, including a nepotism claim which accuses Montgomery of hiring his half-brother, Malik Taylor, as a deputy.

According to the Post Dispatch, Montgomery's attorneys say that a 2016 DNA test, conducted during a child support case, shows Taylor and Montgomery have different fathers. A copy of a court order from the case shows that genetic testing confirmed with 99.999998% certainty that Taylor's father is Mack Donald Taylor, not Whitfield Montgomery, who is listed as Montgomery's father.

Besides the nepotism claim in Bailey's lawsuit, the suit accuses Montgomery of unlawfully detaining acting St. Louis Jail Commissioner Tammy Ross, unlawfully detaining and disarming private security guard Darryl Wilson, failing to transport inmates for physical and mental health treatment, illegal use of the office for personal gain, and financial mismanagement of the office.

Bailey's team has yet to present evidence supporting the nepotism claim. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday, with a bench trial set for November.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KTVI. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KTVI staff before being published.