Who is Lisa Montgomery – the only woman in death?
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| Lisa Montgomery, a convicted killer from Kansas. Photo: kansas.com |
Next month, Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be killed by the United States government. After 17 years of no federal executions, the U.S. has recently started carrying them out again — with Brandon Bernard being killed this past month. Montgomery is the only woman on federal death row and one of only 51 women on death row across the country. If she is killed, she will be the first woman executed by the federal government since 1953.
Montgomery has been sentenced to die by lethal injection on January 12, 2021, for the 2004 murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a pregnant woman whom Montgomery strangled, before cutting open her stomach and kidnapping the baby within. The child survived and was found when Montgomery was arrested.
Who is Lisa Montgomery?
Lisa Marie Montgomery (born February 27, 1968) resided in Melvern, Kansas at the time of the murder. She was raised in an abusive home where she was allegedly raped by her stepfather for many years. She sought to escape mentally by drinking alcohol. When Montgomery was 14, her mother discovered the abuse but reacted by threatening her daughter with a gun. She tried to escape this situation by marrying at the age of 18, but both the first marriage and a second marriage resulted in further abuse.
Montgomery had four children before she underwent a tubal ligation in 1990. Montgomery falsely claimed to be pregnant several times after the procedure, according to both her first and second spouses.
Lisa Montgomery Case
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| Montgomery killed Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, in Skidmore, Missouri, in December 2004. Photo: news.sky.com |
Stinnett was discovered by her mother, Becky Harper, in a pool of blood about an hour after the assault. Harper immediately called 9-1-1. Harper described the wounds inflicted upon her daughter as appearing as if her "stomach had exploded". Attempts by paramedics to revive Stinnett were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville.
The next day, December 17, 2004, Montgomery was arrested at her farmhouse in Melvern, Kansas, where the newborn had been claimed as her own and was recovered. The day-old baby was placed in the custody of her father. The quick recovery and capture were attributed to, in part, the use of forensic computer investigation, which tracked Montgomery and Stinnett's online communication with one another. Both bred rat terriers and may have attended dog shows together. The later investigation was also aided by the issuance of an AMBER alert to enlist the public's help. The alert was initially denied because it had never been used in an unborn case and thus there was no description of the victim. Eventually, after intervention by Congressman Sam Graves, it was implemented. When authorities went to speak to Montgomery they found her in the living room holding the baby and watching television with the AMBER alert flashing on the screen. DNA testing was used to confirm the infant's identity.
A brutal existenceA news release from UN human rights office OHCHR, details the harsh upbringing endured by Ms. Montgomery, noting that she was the victim of horrific life-long cruelty that began when she was 11 when she was subjected to multiple rapes, and later forced into prostitution, aged 15. When she later married, the now 49-year-old woman was subjected to further abuse, some of which was captured on video. She had four children before being pressured into sterilization surgery. By the age of 34, she had moved 61 times. And, because of the traumas she experienced, developed several severe mental health conditions for which she had no access to treatment. During her childhood, a police officer, a judge, and a school administrator were either informed of or suspected that she was being sexually abused, yet no action was taken to help Ms. Montgomery. |
Rescheduled execution
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| The Justice Department rescheduled her execution for Jan. 12. Photo: kmbc.com |
Last October, Ms. Montgomery was scheduled to be executed on 8 December but because her lawyers contracted COVID-19, they were unable to file for clemency within the time limit.
She was, therefore, granted a stay of execution until 31 December, giving the attorneys additional time to file a clemency petition.
On 23 November, the Government rescheduled the federal execution for 12 January.
“International standards are clear – the death penalty is always arbitrary and unlawful when the court ignores or discounts essential facts that may have significantly influenced a capital defendant’s motivations, situation, and conduct. Such facts include exposure to domestic violence and other abuse. A death sentence carried out in contravention of a Government’s international obligations amounts to an arbitrary execution,” the experts warned.
Independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
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