Lisa Montgomery, the only female inmate on federal death row in the United States, was executed by lethal injection early Wednesday at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The execution proceeded after the US Supreme Court lifted a last-minute stay. Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 01:31 local time (06:31 GMT).
Montgomery was convicted of strangling 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in 2004 in Skidmore, Missouri, before cutting the baby from her womb and kidnapping the child. The baby was recovered safely and returned to her family. Montgomery's lawyers argued she was mentally ill and had suffered severe abuse as a child, including being trafficked by her mother and sexually and physically abused by her father.
The execution was delayed twice, first due to Covid-19 and then by a judge who ordered a mental competency hearing. However, the Supreme Court ruled against Montgomery in her final legal challenges, including one arguing she was not mentally competent to be executed. Her lawyer, Kelley Henry, condemned the execution, stating, 'The government stopped at nothing in its zeal to kill this damaged and delusional woman.'
Montgomery is the first female federal inmate executed by the US government since 1954. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 16 other women have been executed by individual states. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to end the federal death penalty, but President Donald Trump did not grant clemency.
