Judge delays execution of Lisa Montgomery, the only woman sentenced to death in the United States

A U.S. federal judge said the Justice Department illegally rescheduled the execution of the only woman on federal death row, which could lead to the Trump administration scheduling the execution after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The charge.

United States District Court Judge Randolph Moss also struck down an order from the director of the Bureau of Prisons that had set Lisa Montgomery’s execution date for January 12.

Montgomery had previously been scheduled to be executed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, this month, but Moss delayed the execution after his attorneys contracted coronavirus while visiting his client and asked him to extend the time to file a complaint. clemency. petition.

Moss barred the Bureau of Prisons from carrying out the execution of Lisa Montgomery before the end of the year, and officials rescheduled her execution date to January 12. But Moss ruled Wednesday that the agency was also prohibited from rescheduling the date while a suspension existed.

“The court consequently finds that the principal’s order setting a new execution date while the court’s stay was in effect ‘was not in accordance with the law,'” Moss wrote.

A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under the order, the Bureau of Prisons cannot reschedule Montgomery’s execution until at least January 1. Generally, according to Department of Justice guidelines, a prisoner sentenced to death must be notified at least 20 days prior to execution.

Due to the judge’s order, if the Justice Department chooses to reschedule the date in January, it could mean that the execution would be scheduled after Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

A Biden spokesman told The Associated Press that the president-elect “opposes the death penalty now and in the future” and would work as president to end its use in office. But Biden’s representatives have not said whether the executions will stop immediately once Biden takes office.

Montgomery was convicted of killing 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in the northwestern Missouri town of Skidmore in December 2004. She used a rope to strangle Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, and then a kitchen knife to cut the girl. the uterus, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Montgomery removed the baby from Stinnett’s body, took the boy with her and attempted to pass the girl off as his own. Montgomery’s legal team has argued that their client suffers from serious mental illness.

“Given the severity of Ms. Montgomery’s mental illness, the physical and sexual torture she endured throughout her life, and the connection between her trauma and the facts of her crime, we call on President Trump to grant her mercy and commute your sentence to life imprisonment, “said one of Montgomery’s attorneys, Sandra Babcock, in a statement.

Two other federal inmates are scheduled to be executed in January, but they tested positive for coronavirus and their lawyers are also seeking delays in their executions.

-AP