<p>BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A former Alabama police officer has pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife, whose body was found in a high school parking lot over a year ago.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Jason Bragg McIntosh, 46, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of murder in the December 2019 death of Megan Louise Montgomery, news outlets reported. McIntosh was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/582f4290fc5c9e0f52eee09d30c29774">originally charged</a> with capital murder.</p>
<p>Montgomery’s body was found in the parking lot below Mountain Brook High School by a routine patrol officer, who discovered her face down on the pavement with multiple gunshot wounds to the back and head, officers previously said.</p>
<p>Montgomery and McIntosh had been married for two years but months before her death, the pair had been involved in several domestic disputes, AL.Com <a href="https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2021/03/ex-police-officer-expected-to-enter-plea-in-megan-montgomerys-mountain-brook-murder.html">reported</a>.</p>
<p>McIntosh worked for the Birmingham and the Mountain Brook police departments before joining Hoover’s force in 1999. He resigned from the post in March 2019 following a domestic dispute between him and Montgomery, which ended with her being shot and wounded.</p>
<p>In May 2019, McIntosh was charged with domestic violence following another fight in which Montgomery suffered scrapes and red marks. That same month, Montgomery filed for divorce.</p>
<p>“Megan began dying on July 23, 2017, on their first date. Like a frog in a pot of boiling water, you gradually turn up the heat to boiling and the frog doesn’t know they’re dying. That’s what happened to Megan," Montgomery’s mother, Susann Montgomery-Clark said after the proceedings. “That’s what domestic violence does."</p>
<p>Under the plea deal, McIntosh was sentenced to 30 years in prison.</p>
<p>After the proceedings, McIntosh cried and hugged his family.</p>
<p>Attorney Tommy Spina said McIntosh “deeply regrets what he did and the pain he has inflicted onto so many people. He has accepted his punishment for those actions.”</p>
