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The only woman sentenced to death in the United States will be executed after a court overturned a decision to delay her death.
Lisa montgomeryThe 52-year-old was convicted of strangling 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, to death and cutting her baby with a kitchen knife in 2004.
The baby survived the attack, and prosecutors said Montgomery took the child with her and tried to pass them off as her own.
Montgomery pictured in a mugshot after her arrest
She was to be executed by lethal injection in Terre Haute, Indiana on December 8, but a stay was imposed after her lawyers COVID-19 while visiting her in prison.
On Boxing Day, Judge Randolph Moss struck down an order from the Federal Bureau of Prisons rescheduling his death for January 12 after siding with his attorneys, who said a date could not be set while a suspension existed. He said the date cannot be rescheduled until at least January 1.
However, on Friday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the trial judge mistakenly delayed the date and reinstated execution.
One of Montgomery’s attorneys, Meaghan VerGow, has said her team will request that the full appellate court review the case.
His legal team has argued that he suffers from a serious mental illness after years of physical and mental abuse.
The new ruling means Montgomery can now be executed a week before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
Biden opposes the death penalty and his spokesman has said he will work to end its use. However, he has not said whether he will stop federal executions after he was sworn in.
Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, was murdered in Skidmore, Missouri, in December 2004.
Montgomery will be the first woman in more than 70 years to be executed in the United States. The last, Bonnie Heady, was executed in a gas chamber in 1953 after abducting and shooting six-year-old Bobby Greenlease, then collecting a $ 600,000 ransom (equivalent to $ 5.7 million or $ 4, 08 million pounds today).
President Donald Trump’s administration restarted federal executions after a 17-year hiatus in July and has since carried out 10 death sentences, including two in December.
It has executed more people in one year than any other administration in more than 130 years.
Two other federal inmates are also scheduled to be executed this month, but they tested positive for coronavirus at Christmas, prompting their legal teams to seek a stay of execution as well.
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