WASHINGTON – A federal judge has said the Justice Department illegally legalized the execution of a lone woman on the federal death penalty, setting up the Trump administration to ensure execution after a possible presidential-elected Joe Biden takes office.
U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss also overturned an order by the Bureau Pr Prison’s director, who set the date for Lisa Montgomery’s execution to Jan. 201. , This month, but Moss delayed the execution after his lawyers visited his client after signing a coronavirus contract and asking him to extend the time to file a clemency petition.
Moss banned the Pr Pr Prison from executing Lisa Montgomery before the end of the year, and authorities set a January 1 execution date. But Moss ruled Wednesday that the agency was also barred from the date schedule when the stay was imposed. .
“The court, accordingly, concluded that when setting a date for the new execution of the director’s order, when the court’s stay was enforced, it was ‘not in accordance with the law,'” Moses wrote.
A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under the order, the Bureau Pr Prison could not arrange for Montgomery’s execution until at least January. 1. Generally, under the guidance of the Department of Justice, death row inmates must be notified at least 20 days before the execution. Because of the judge’s order, if the Justice Department chooses to set a date in December, January, it could mean that executions will be scheduled after Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
A spokesman for Biden told the Associated Press that the president-elect “opposes the death penalty now and in the future” and would act as president to end the use of that position. But Biden’s representatives did not say whether the execution would be stopped immediately after Biden took office.
Montgomery was convicted in December 2004 of the murder of 23-year-old Bobby Joe Steinett in northwestern Missouri, Skidmore. He used a rope to strangle an eight-month-pregnant stint, and then a kitchen knife to cut off the baby girl, officials said.
Prosecutors said Montgomery pulled the baby out of Stinette’s body, took the baby with him, and tried to pass the baby on in his own way. Montgomery’s legal team has argued that their client suffers from serious mental illness.
“We appeal to President Trump to show mercy, and to change his sentence, given Mrs. Montgomery’s mental illness, the severity of the sexual and physical abuse she suffered throughout her life, and the connection between the facts of her trauma and her crime.” Life imprisonment, ”Sandra Babcock, one of Montgomery’s lawyers, said in a statement.
The execution of two other federal prisoners is scheduled for January but has tested positive for coronavirus and their lawyers are also demanding a delay in their execution.
