A judge has further delayed the planned execution of the only woman on federal death row in the U.S.
What We Know:
- In a decision that will possibly leave the Trump administration with no choice but to delay the execution beyond its term in office, a federal judge found an effort to reschedule it for January was unlawful.
- Lisa Montgomery, 52, was sentenced for killing 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in the north-west Missouri town of Skidmore in December 2004. After choking Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, Montgomery cut the baby girl from the womb with a kitchen knife. The child survived and prosecutors stated Montgomery then tried to pass it off as her own.
- Montgomery was previously scheduled to be put to death in December at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Still, U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss delayed the execution after her attorneys caught coronavirus and asked him to extend the time allowed to file a clemency petition.
- Moss prevented the Bureau of Prisons from carrying out Montgomery’s death before the end of the year, and officials rescheduled her execution date for January 12th. On Wednesday, Moss ruled that the agency was prevented from postponing the date while a stay in place was in order.
“The court, accordingly, concludes that the director’s order setting a new execution date while the court’s stay was in effect not in accordance with the law,” Moss wrote.
- Under the order, the Bureau of Prisons cannot postpone Montgomery’s execution until at least January 1st. Generally, under the Department of Justice guidelines, a death row inmate must be informed at least 20 days before the execution. Because of the judge’s order, if the DOJ decides to reschedule the date in January, it could suggest the execution would be scheduled after Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20th.
- A spokesperson for Biden told the Associated Press that the president-elect disagrees with the death penalty and would work as president to terminate such use in the office.
Biden’s representatives have not stated whether executions would be paused immediately once he takes office.
