WASHINGTON – The United States Supreme Court cleared the way today for the first execution of a woman in decades – despite doubts about her mental state – after the government of President Donald Trump pushed for the application of the death penalty.
Lisa Montgomery, 52, is set to receive a lethal injection later today in Terre Haute, Indiana, after series of legal rulings, becoming the first woman to be executed by federal authorities since 1953.
The court ruled in favour of the Trump administration, giving the Prisons Bureau authority to proceed with her execution.
Montgomery’s lawyers do not deny the seriousness of her crime – in 2004, she killed a pregnant young woman to steal her baby.
But lawyer Kelley Henry, in a statement, called the decision a “vicious, unlawful and unnecessary exercise of authoritarian power”.
Unable to have a child, Montgomery carefully identified her victim – 23-year-old dog breeder Bobbie Jo Stinnett – online.
Under the guise of buying a puppy, Montgomery went to Stinnett’s home, where she strangled her to death and cut the baby from her body. She left Stinnett dead in a pool of blood.
In 2007, she was convicted of kidnapping, resulting in death and handed a death sentence.
Her defenders believe that she suffers from severe mental health issues stemming from abuse she suffered as a child. According to them, she does not understand the meaning of her sentence, a prerequisite for execution.
On Monday evening, a federal judge granted the defence a victory, ordering a stay of execution to allow time to assess Montgomery’s mental state.
“The record before the court contains ample evidence that Ms Montgomery’s current mental state is so divorced from reality that she cannot rationally understand the government’s rationale for her execution,” the ruling stated.
But an appeals court overturned the decision yesterday, leaving it up to the US Supreme Court to decide. – AFP, January 13, 2021
