Lisa Montgomery: Execution date of the only woman on federal death row on hold, possibly the date to the Biden administration

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Lisa Montgomery was set to be executed on December 8 after being convicted in 2004 of strangling a Missouri woman who was eight months pregnant, excising the baby, and kidnapping it. The baby survived.

The execution date this month was postponed by the court because two Montgomery attorneys, who planned to seek leniency for her, fell ill with the coronavirus.
Lisa Montgomery in a booking photo released December 20, 2004 in Kansas City, Kansas. Montgomery is accused of murdering pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett, cutting the fetus from her body and claiming the live baby as her own.

The Justice Department had said it had tried to move Montgomery’s execution date to Jan. 12, but DC District Court Judge Randy Moss wrote on Thursday that it did not follow the correct timeline under the previous court order, leading to the rescheduling of the execution date. was delayed. further.

“The court decision requires the government to follow the law by not setting a date of execution for Lisa Montgomery while the execution is delayed,” Sandra Babcock, one of Montgomery’s attorneys, said in a statement Thursday. Given the severity of Ms. Montgomery’s mental illness, the sexual and physical torture she endured throughout her life, and the connection between her trauma and the facts of her crime, we appeal to President (Donald) Trump for her mercy. to donate and commute. Her sentence to life imprisonment. “

The Trump administration has overseen 10 federal executions in the closing months of its presidency, the most in one year in the United States in decades, and a resurgence after years of none. Montgomery is said to be the first woman executed by the US government since 1953.

Biden has pledged to abolish the federal death penalty and urge states to stop seeking death sentences.

But it is unclear how the upcoming Biden administration will deal with executions planned by President Donald Trump after he leaves office. More than three dozen members of Congress pressured the Biden administration to give priority to ending the federal death penalty.

CNN’s Christina Carrega and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.

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