Just before sentencing: Execution of the only woman in the US death row has been postponed
The Justice Department is outraged by the ruling, which states that a diagnosis of mental fitness for Lisa Montgomery must be made, less than 24 hours before the scheduled date of execution. Following the decision, the execution of the sentence was postponed until further notice, but the administration appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse the decision and allow the execution tonight.
Just hours before the federal government was due to execute a woman for the first time in nearly seven decades, the court ordered not to carry out the sentence until a diagnosis as a mental capacity for the inmate was made.
Lisa Montgomery. For now, the execution of the sentence has been postponed, but the Supreme Court may reverse the decision (Photo: AP)
This is the case of Lisa Montgomery, the woman convicted of a shocking murder whose name has made headlines several times over the past two months.
“She suffers from a very serious mental illness, which stems from a sexual torture she went through throughout her life,” said Kelly Henry, one of the lawyers representing 52-year-old Montgomery.
As you may recall, Montgomery’s execution was scheduled for December 8, but at the end of November, the federal court in Washington DC. si. Responding to the rejection request after two of her lawyers fell ill in Corona. The two asked for more time to ask President Trump to sweeten her sentence, and they asked for her to be sentenced to life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
Federal Court Judge Randolph Moss ordered the Justice Department not to execute Montgomery until Dec. 31. In response, a new date was set, January 12, just days before President-elect Biden took office. But at this point, Moss has again ruled against the Justice Department, arguing that his men should not set a new date for sentencing until Montgomery’s lawyers complete the appeals process.
Montgomery transferred to Indiana Detention Facility ahead of sentencing (Photo: AP)
The main goal of Montgomery and her lawyers was to postpone the execution after Jan. 20, as they hope Joe Biden orders the cessation of executions at the federal level upon his white entry on that date.
But then came the ruling of three judges on a special panel of the Federal Court of Appeals, who reversed Moss’ latest ruling and ruled that the Justice Department could indeed set the date of execution. That decision paved the way for the execution of the sentence today (Tuesday).
Estimates suggested the special commission’s ruling would be the latest in an ongoing saga, and on Monday Montgomery was transferred from a Texas detention facility to the Indiana Federal Prison, where the execution was scheduled to take place.
As mentioned, the most significant development was recorded last night when the federal court ruled that Montgomery should undergo a diagnosis as a mental service. The Ministry of Justice is furious following the decision, and an appeal was submitted to the Supreme Court this morning, with the aim of enforcing the sentence tonight.
Lisa Montgomery (Photo: Reuters / AP)
Twelve years ago, in 2008, Montgomery was convicted of murder four years earlier. In a most shocking case, Montgomery strangled 23-year-old Bobby Joe Stint to death, who was eight months pregnant. Using a knife, Montgomery removed the baby from his mother’s womb, and surprisingly the baby survived the tragic event.
She still tried to convince people that it was her baby, but a few weeks later she was arrested on suspicion of murder and the baby was transferred to the welfare authorities.
At the time, attorney Kelly Henry explained that Lisa “had long since taken full responsibility for her crimes and would never be released from the dormitory.
As mentioned, the ball is now in the court of the Supreme Court, but it is unclear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will have time to hear the case before the scheduled execution date, today at midnight.