On Tuesday night, the Supreme Court reversed two rulings from federal appeals court, permitting the execution of a woman convicted of strangling a young woman eight-months pregnant and slicing the baby from her womb in order to convince others she had a baby.
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Lisa Montgomery, 52, became the first woman executed by the federal government in 67 years early Wednesday. She was executed by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. <a href="https://t.co/4k54okKv6Q">https://t.co/4k54okKv6Q</a>
&mdash; Enquirer (@Enquirer) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enquirer/status/1349325325931589632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The family of Stinnett, pictured below, expressed their desire to remain private.
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Earlier this evening prison officials in Terre Haute announced the family of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BobbieJoStinnett?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BobbieJoStinnett</a> will not speak or provide a written statement to the media. 
The Bureau of Prisons would not comment if any of Stinnett&#39;s family would be present at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/execution?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#execution</a> of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LisaMontgomery?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LisaMontgomery</a>. <a href="https://t.co/jk3vZ5et0w">pic.twitter.com/jk3vZ5et0w</a>
&mdash; Brooke Lennington (@TheOpenBrooke) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheOpenBrooke/status/1349202168805531648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Lisa Montgomery, 52, became the first woman to be executed by the federal government in 67 years on Tuesday night, put to death by lethal injection. She was the only female inmate on federal death row in the United States. In 2008, Montgomery, who was 36 at the time of the murder, was convicted of strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, of Skidmore, Missouri.
Stinnett and her husband owned a dog-breeding business; Montgomery met Stinnett online in an online chatroom for rat terrier breeders and fans of the breed called &#8220;Ratter Chatter,” where Montgomery told Stinnett she was pregnant.
Montgomery posed as a customer the day of the murder, December 16, 2004, before she murdered Stinnett.
“It wasn&#8217;t Montgomery that Stinnett was expecting; it was a woman who went by the name of Darlene Fischer. But Fischer was a name that Montgomery had been using when she separately began messaging Stinnett from a different email address inquiring about buying one of her puppies,” the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55587260">BBC noted</a>.
Stinnett’s body was discovered by her mother an hour after the attack. Paramedics could not save her. She died at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. The next day, Stinnett was found at her farmhouse in Kansas with the newborn baby.
Montgomery’s attorneys argued that she deserved a postponement of the execution. As <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/01/reversing-several-lower-courts-justices-allow-execution-of-lisa-montgomery/">ScotusBlog</a> reported, “Four separate cases relating to Montgomery’s execution reached the justices in emergency litigation over the past several days.” Those cases included Montgomery’s claims that her execution violated the Federal Death Penalty Act requiring federal death sentences be implemented “in the manner prescribed by the law of the State in which the sentence is imposed.”
Montgomery said the DOJ did not honor Missouri’s law stating prisoners get at least 90 days’ notice before an execution. The government argued that the FDPA only requires the federal government to act in concert with a state’s general method of execution and thus did not apply to a state’s procedural rules.
Montgomery also argued that her death sentence had a stay provision that was never lifted. The government argued that the stay was merely to allow Montgomery to appeal her conviction, not an indefinite stay of her execution.
Montgomery argued that she should not be executed because of mental illness. The history of how she was repeatedly sexually and violently abused as a child and as an adult can be found <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55587260">here</a>. An appeals court ruled against her and the Supreme Court declined to reverse that decision.
Lastly, Montgomery argued that her original execution date was Dec. 8, but after her attorneys became sick with the coronavirus in November and a judge issued a stay through Dec. 31, the DOJ rescheduled her execution for January 12, which she claimed violated the Federal Code, which <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/26.3">states</a>, “If the date designated for execution passes by reason of a stay of execution, then a new date shall be designated promptly by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons when the stay is lifted.” The D.C. Circuit ruled for the government and the Supreme Court turned down Montgomery’s appeal.

Lisa Montgomery

Woman Who Murdered Pregnant Woman And Cut Out Her Baby Is First Woman Executed By Feds In 67 Years

Supreme Court

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has rescheduled the execution of death row inmate Lisa Montgomery, 52, after a judge delayed the most recent execution date when two of her lawyers contracted the coronavirus.
According to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/11/23/lisa-montgomery-execution-rescheduled-jan-12-covid-delay/6403735002/">USA Today</a>, Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, has now been scheduled for a January 12, 2021, execution date, eight days before inauguration day. Montgomery, who was previously scheduled to be executed on December 8, was convicted more than a decade ago for the 2004 murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a 23-year-old pregnant woman from Missouri.
According to <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca8/08-1780/081780p-2011-04-05.html">court documents</a>, Montgomery had traveled 150 miles to Stinnett’s home and fatally strangled her in order to kidnap her unborn child and raise the baby as her own. The baby survived the attack on Stinnett, and Montgomery was arrested days after telling her husband that she had given birth. 
Attorney Kelly Henry, the public defender for Montgomery, said in a statement last month that her client has accepted responsibility for the crime. She also said that going through with an execution was a “profound injustice” because of her client’s “severe mental illness and the devastating impacts of her childhood trauma,” according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/17/us/lisa-montgomery-execution.html">The New York Times</a>.
In recent days, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, the media-projected winner of the election, has reaffirmed that he is against the death penalty but has declined to answer whether he would immediately halt federal executions, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-prisons-inaugurations-coronavirus-pandemic-executions-365258989e6be8d7077b2f67d8c3e190">The Associated Press</a>.
The AP reports:
<blockquote>Biden “opposes the death penalty now and in the future,” press secretary TJ Ducklo said. He did not say whether executions would be paused immediately once Biden takes office.</blockquote>
Last year, Attorney General Bill Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons to resume executions for death row inmates following a 17-year pause on federal executions. “The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system,” said Barr.
Biden also opposed the change at the time, tweeting: “Since 1973, over 160 individuals in this country have been sentenced to death and were later exonerated. Because we can’t ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty.”
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Since 1973, over 160 individuals in this country have been sentenced to death and were later exonerated. Because we can’t ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty. <a href="https://t.co/o9LQHWwmt7">https://t.co/o9LQHWwmt7</a>
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1154500277124251648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
Daniel Lewis Lee, who was convicted of killing three members of an Arkansas family back in the 1990s, was the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-carry-out-first-execution-in-17-years-against-man-who-murdered-arkansas-family">first person to be executed</a> by the federal government after Barr ordered capital punishment to resume.
“Lee, a member of a white supremacist organization, brutally murdered William Frederick Mueller and Nancy Ann Mueller, along with her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Powell,” said Barr. “After robbing and shooting them with a stun gun, Lee duct-taped plastic bags around their heads, weighed down each victim with rocks, and drowned the family in the Illinois bayou. On May 4, 1999, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas found Lee guilty of numerous offenses, including three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, and he was sentenced to death.”
“Today, Lee finally faced the justice he deserved,” continued Barr. “The American people have made the considered choice to permit capital punishment for the most egregious federal crimes, and justice was done today in implementing the sentence for Lee’s horrific offenses.”
Lee maintained his innocence up until his death, saying: “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I’m not a murderer … You’re killing an innocent man.”

View of a sign outside the Terre Haute Federal Correctional

Lisa Montgomery, Only Woman On Federal Death Row, Receives 2021 Execution Date After Postponement

A federal judge has delayed the December 8 execution of Lisa Montgomery, who was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/execution-date-set-for-only-woman-on-federal-death-row">convicted of killing a pregnant woman</a> and taking off with her baby more than a decade ago, on account that two of her attorneys have contracted coronavirus.
According to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/lisa-montgomery-execution-delayed-covid-19">Fox News</a>, the two attorneys, Kelly Henry and Amy Harwell, tested positive for coronavirus after visiting Montgomery at a Texas federal prison in October.
Both have reportedly been experiencing serious symptoms, a development that has complicated the team’s efforts to seek clemency from President Donald Trump on behalf of Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row.
The Nashville Tennessean <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2020/11/19/tennessee-lisa-montgomery-execution-delayed-after-lawyers-contract-covid-19/6342960002/">reports</a> that U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss has ruled that the execution be delayed until at least December 31, nearly three weeks later than the original execution date. The judge did not establish a firm date for the execution, which is set to occur in Indiana.
Last month, the Federal Bureau of Prisons established a date for Montgomery’s execution by lethal injection, nearly 13 years after she was convicted for the 2004 murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a 23-year-old pregnant woman from Missouri.
According to <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca8/08-1780/081780p-2011-04-05.html">court documents</a>, Montgomery, who had been telling people she was pregnant, traveled to Stinnett’s home nearly 150 miles away under the auspices of wanting to adopt a puppy. Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, allowed Montgomery to play with the puppies while she took a phone call from her mother.
<blockquote>Some time after the phone call ended, Montgomery attacked Stinnett and used the cord to strangle her until she was unconscious. Montgomery then used the kitchen knife to cut into Stinnett’s abdomen,  causing Stinnett to regain consciousness. A struggle ensued, and Montgomery strangled Stinnett a  second time, killing her. Montgomery extracted the fetus from Stinnett’s body, cut the umbilical cord, and left with the baby. Montgomery entered her car and drove away from the Stinnett home, holding the baby in her arms and pinching the umbilical cord.
[Harper, Stinnett’s mother] called Stinnett shortly after 3:30 p.m. When no one answered, Harper walked the two blocks to Stinnett’s home. The front door was open, and Harper went inside, calling for her daughter. She reached the dining room and found Stinnett’s body lying there, covered in blood. Harper called 911 and told the operator that her daughter was eight months pregnant and in need of medical assistance. Harper said that it looked like Stinnett’s stomach had exploded.</blockquote>
Democratic nominee Joe Biden has been making a public case against the death penalty since before he received his party’s nomination and said he wants to put an end to the practice.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Since 1973, over 160 individuals in this country have been sentenced to death and were later exonerated. Because we can’t ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty. <a href="https://t.co/o9LQHWwmt7">https://t.co/o9LQHWwmt7</a>
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1154500277124251648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
Three federal executions are slated to occur before inauguration day. Robert Owen, an attorney for two of the inmates, told The New York Times that his clients were convicted through the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994, which was part of the 1994 Crime Bill.

Judge Delays Lisa Montgomery Execution After Her Lawyers Contract Coronavirus

COVID

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has scheduled a December execution date for a Kansas woman who was convicted in 2007 of fatally strangling a pregnant woman and mutilating her abdomen in order to raise the unborn child as her own. 
Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, will be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 8, 2020, in the U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute, Indiana, sixteen years after she engaged in what the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/executions-scheduled-two-federal-inmates-convicted-heinous-murders">Department of Justice</a> called a “premeditated murder-kidnap scheme” against 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett of Missouri.
According to <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca8/08-1780/081780p-2011-04-05.html">court documents</a>, Montgomery traveled over 150 miles to the victim’s home in December of 2004 under the auspices of wanting to adopt a puppy from Stinnett, who had a litter of them for sale. While Montgomery played with the puppies, Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant at the time, took a call from her mother to confirm plans for later in the day.
<blockquote>Some time after the phone call ended, Montgomery attacked Stinnett and used the cord to strangle her until she was unconscious.  Montgomery then used the kitchen knife to cut  into  Stinnett’s  abdomen,  causing  Stinnett  to  regain  consciousness.  A struggle  ensued,  and  Montgomery  strangled  Stinnett  a  second  time,  killing  her. Montgomery extracted the fetus from Stinnett’s body, cut the umbilical cord, and left with the baby.  Montgomery entered her car and drove away from the Stinnett home, holding the baby in her arms and pinching the umbilical cord.
[Harper, Stinnett&#8217;s mother] called Stinnett shortly after 3:30 p.m. When no one answered, Harper walked the two blocks to Stinnett’s home. The front door was open, and Harper went inside, calling for her daughter.  She reached the dining room and found Stinnett’s body lying there, covered in blood.  Harper called 911 and told the operator that her daughter was eight months pregnant and in need of medical assistance.  Harper said that it looked like Stinnett’s stomach had exploded.</blockquote>
Montgomery, who had been telling others she was pregnant despite a previous sterilization procedure, took off with the baby girl, who managed to survive, and told her husband she had given birth at a clinic while out shopping for Christmas presents, according to court documents. Police questioned her the next day, and she admitted to the kidnapping and killing.
She was convicted of federal kidnapping resulting in death in 2007, and sentenced to death.
Attorney Kelly Henry, the public defender for Montgomery, said in a statement Friday that her client has accepted responsibility for the crime, but maintained that going through with an execution was a “profound injustice” because of her client’s “severe mental illness and the devastating impacts of her childhood trauma,” according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/17/us/lisa-montgomery-execution.html">The New York Times</a>.
The Times reports that Montgomery’s execution will be the first time the federal government has killed a woman since Bonnie Heady, who was executed by gas chamber in 1953 for murder and kidnapping, less than three months after the crime was committed.

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Lisa Montgomery

Woman Who Murdered Pregnant Woman And Cut Out Her Baby Is First Woman Executed By Feds In 67 Years

Lisa Montgomery, Only Woman On Federal Death Row, Receives 2021 Execution Date After Postponement

Judge Delays Lisa Montgomery Execution After Her Lawyers Contract Coronavirus

Execution Date Set For Only Woman On Federal Death Row