January 13, 2021
Image courtesy, Reuters
Lisa Montgomery convict on death row
On the 12th, the US Department of Justice executed the death row prisoner Lisa Montgomery (52), who had been sentenced to death for murder. It is the first time in 67 years that the federal government has executed the death penalty for women.
The Montgomery convict on death row was the only woman to be sentenced to death by the federal government.
Regarding the death row prisoner in Montgomery, lawyers have sought a commutation because of mental illness caused by childhood abuse. The federal district court in Indiana, where the prison is located, decided to postpone it on the 11th, but the Supreme Court overturned it, and the prison in Terre Haute, Indiana was executed on the 12th as scheduled by lethal injection.
In 2004, the Montgomery convict on death row strangled Bobby Joe Stinette, a pregnant woman at the age of 23, in Midori, slashing her body and kidnapping her baby.
The last word is …
According to a woman who witnessed the execution, the prisoner said “no” when asked if there was anything she wanted to say at the end.
Attorney Kelly Henry, a lawyer for the death row prisoner in Montgomery, said in a statement that those involved in the execution “should be ashamed.”
“The government has done anything to kill this hurt, delusional woman,” he said. “The death penalty for Lisa Montgomery is far from justice.”
Image courtesy, Reuters
Opponents of executions gathered in front of the prison in Terre Haute, Indiana
The execution of Montgomery convict on death row has been postponed twice so far. The first was the effect of the pandemic of the new coronavirus.
Lawyers allege that the convict on death row suffered brain damage from abuse. The family also testified that the father had repeatedly sexually and physically abused him and the mother had forced him to work sexually. The lawyers said the ill-treatment was terrible enough to deserve torture.
On top of that, he defended that the Montgomery convict on death row at the time of the crime was mentally troubled and far from reality. This opinion is also supported by 41 lawyers who have been in charge of the death row and human rights groups.
Victims’ bereaved families and friends, meanwhile, have stated that the crimes are extremely cruel and deserve the death penalty, even if they have a mental illness.
Death penalty confirmed in 2007
The Montgomery convict on death row met the victim, Stinet, on the Internet as a dog lover. On the day of the crime, a convict on death row in Montgomery, who drove to Stinet’s house, squeezed the victim’s neck with a rope and killed him, removing the baby from his womb.
According to police, the Montgomery convict on death row initially claimed that the baby was the child he gave birth the day before. However, when the lie was revealed, he confessed to Stinet’s murder.
The Montgomery convict on death row was found guilty in 2007. Since 2008, he has been in a federal prison for female prisoners in Texas with special needs and has been treated by psychosomatic medicine. After the execution date was set, surveillance was continued in the cell to prevent suicide.
Henry pointed out that the first legal defenses received by Montgomery convict on death row were significantly inadequate, lacking indications of abuse, trauma and mental illness.
In a row under the Trump administration
The death penalty at the federal level had not been carried out for 17 years until last year, but has been resumed at the direction of President Donald Trump.
In the United States, it has been customary for 130 years that the government does not execute the death penalty during the transition period. However, by the time President-elect Joe Biden took office on the 20th of this month, five federal executions were scheduled and Montgomery was the third executioner.
If all five executions were executed, Mr. Trump would be the president with the highest number of federal executions in office in the last 100 years.
Jessica Lassen Hope, BBC News (Washington)
The struggle to save the lives of convict on death row is always heated until the last moment. Lisa Montgomery’s death row was no exception.
Only the president can suspend the death penalty and reduce it to life imprisonment. President Trump is now in control, but if lawyers could postpone the execution of Montgomery’s convict on death row to Mr. Biden’s inauguration, the sentence could have been commuted. Mr Biden has promised to end the federal death penalty.
The case of Montgomery convict on death row ended in the same way as many convict on death row cases. At the very end, the lawyers of the Montgomery convict on death row filed a proceeding in quick succession against the Justice Department, which wanted to proceed with the execution.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiffs were defeated in all three proceedings filed by the lawyers of the Montgomery convict on death row. In one of them, lawyers claimed that it was unconstitutional to put the Montgomery convict on death row, who was mentally unfit, to death.