US carries out first federal execution of woman
in decades
Lisa Montgomery, 52, was executed by US federal authorities. Picture: Reuters
Charlotte Plantive
Washington - An American woman who murdered a pregnant dog
breeder in order to steal her baby was put to death by lethal injection on
Wednesday, becoming the first female to be executed by US federal authorities
in nearly seven decades.
The US Justice Department said Lisa Montgomery, 52, was
pronounced dead at 1:31 am Eastern Time (0631 GMT) at a penitentiary in Terre
Haute, Indiana.
It said the execution was "in accordance with the
capital sentence unanimously recommended by a federal jury and imposed by the
US District Court for the Western District of Missouri".
The US Supreme Court cleared the way for Montgomery's
execution just hours earlier -- despite doubts about her mental state - after
the government of President Donald Trump had pushed for the application of the
death penalty.
Montgomery's defenders did not deny the seriousness of her
crime: in 2004, she killed a pregnant 23-year-old in order to steal her baby.
A judge reinstated her execution, ruling it was improperly
rescheduled by Justice Department.
But her lawyer Kelley Henry, in a statement, called the
decision - the first for a female inmate since 1953 - a "vicious,
unlawful, and unnecessary exercise of authoritarian power."
"The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was
on full display tonight," Henry said. "Everyone who participated in
the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame."
The execution came after a legal back-and-forth that ended
with the country's highest court allowing it to proceed.
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 and cut the baby from her body.
In 2007 she was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death
and handed a death sentence.
Her defenders believe that she suffered from severe mental
health issues stemming from abuse she suffered as a child. She did not
understand the meaning of her sentence, they said, a prerequisite for
execution.
On Monday evening, a federal judge offered the defense a
brief lifeline, 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 that decision on Tuesday,
leaving it up to the US Supreme Court to decide. It said the execution could go
ahead.
Clemency plea ignored
Trump, like his many of his conservative constituents, is a
strong supporter of the death penalty and ignored a plea for clemency from
Montgomery's supporters.
Despite the decline of capital punishment in the US and
around the world, Trump's administration resumed federal executions in July
after a 17-year hiatus and has been carrying them out at an unprecedented rate
ever since.
Since the summer, 10 Americans have died by lethal
injection in Terre Haute. In addition to Montgomery, two men are scheduled for
federal execution this week. Their executions were stayed on Tuesday due to
them having contracted Covid-19.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin on Monday announced the
introduction of legislation to end federal executions. It could be passed
once president-elect Joe Biden takes office next week and Democrats regain control
of the Senate.
In a scathing statement, Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun
known for her activism against the death penalty, spoke over the weekend of
federal prosecutors "working all day and through the nights" to
counter the appeals of federal inmates.
"You may not have to see the fear or smell the sweat
in the execution chamber, but your hand is in this," Prejean wrote, urging
them to "just say 'no' this week to working to get one woman and two men
executed the week before the Inauguration" of Biden.
Former guards of the penitentiary in Terre Haute have
written to the Justice Department to request that the executions be postponed
until the penitentiary staff are vaccinated against Covid-19.
Between the executioners, guards, witnesses, and lawyers,
an execution assembles dozens of people in a closed environment, which is
conducive to the spread of the virus.
US states, including the deeply conservative Texas, have
suspended executions for months due to the pandemic - unlike the federal
government, which has pushed to carry out many before Trump leaves power.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/us-carries-out-first-federal-execution-of-woman-in-decades-d84981de-66b3-4c9b-b5ed-c2e750e1fbf4
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