Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. on Wednesday after receiving a lethal injection into Terre Haute Federal Prison, Indiana.
For the first time in nearly seven decades, the federal government executed a woman. Lisa Montgomery,52, was pronounced dead this Wednesday at 1:31 a.m., after receiving a lethal injection into Terre Haute Federal Prison, Indiana.
The Kansas woman was sentenced to death for strangling a pregnant woman in Missouri and cutting off the baby she was carrying in her womb.
At the beginning of the process, a woman standing leaned towards Montgomery, gently removed her mask and asked if she had a final words.
"No, " replied the woman in a quiet, dull voice. He didn't say anything else.
On Tuesday, a federal judge had granted Montgomery a temporary postponement of his execution pending a review of his mental ability to understand this punishment.
But on Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court lifted the suspension of the appeals court that blocked it.
"The cowardly bloodthirsty of a failed administration was shown tonight," Montgomery's lawyer Kelley Henry said in a statement.
The woman was convicted in 2004 of murdering a woman who was 8 months pregnant. He strangled her with a rope and with a kitchen knife extracted the fetus. The baby survived and Montgomery, who was 34 at the time, tried to pass her by, but was arrested. A jury gave a unanimous death sentence.
Henry said his client suffered from a serious mental illness that was "exacerbated by the lifelong sexual torture he suffered at the hands of his caregivers." Psychiatry experts filed affidavits as part of their appeal on the grounds for their execution.
"The Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of people like Montgomery because of his severe mental illness or brain damage. It's deteriorating mentally and we're looking for an opportunity to prove its incompetence," Henry added.
Montgomery was imprisoned in a federal women's prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where staff are trained to deal with mental health issues. His lawyers claim that the jury was never fully known about the serious mental illnesses diagnosed by doctors.
Initially, Montgomery was to be executed in December, but the date was delayed because his lawyers, who are in Nashville, Tennessee, contracted coronavirus while traveling to Texas and worked on his case.
The last time the government executed an inmate was in 1953. This was Bonnie Brown Heady of Missouri, who was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of a young man.
In addition to Montgomery's, there are two other federal executions scheduled to take place this week.
This is the 11th prisoner to receive a lethal injection there since July, when President Donald Trump resumed federal executions after 17 years- the largest in a presidential term in more than 130 years.
Montgomery's death comes in the final days of the Trump administration. President-elect Joe Biden has suggested that he would put a moratorium on the federal death penalty.
For the first time in nearly seven decades, the federal government executed a woman. Lisa Montgomery,52, was pronounced dead this Wednesday at 1:31 a.m., after receiving a lethal injection into Terre Haute Federal Prison, Indiana.
The Kansas woman was sentenced to death for strangling a pregnant woman in Missouri and cutting off the baby she was carrying in her womb.
At the beginning of the process, a woman standing leaned towards Montgomery, gently removed her mask and asked if she had a final words.
"No, " replied the woman in a quiet, dull voice. He didn't say anything else.
On Tuesday, a federal judge had granted Montgomery a temporary postponement of his execution pending a review of his mental ability to understand this punishment.
But on Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court lifted the suspension of the appeals court that blocked it.
"The cowardly bloodthirsty of a failed administration was shown tonight," Montgomery's lawyer Kelley Henry said in a statement.
The woman was convicted in 2004 of murdering a woman who was 8 months pregnant. He strangled her with a rope and with a kitchen knife extracted the fetus. The baby survived and Montgomery, who was 34 at the time, tried to pass her by, but was arrested. A jury gave a unanimous death sentence.
Henry said his client suffered from a serious mental illness that was "exacerbated by the lifelong sexual torture he suffered at the hands of his caregivers." Psychiatry experts filed affidavits as part of their appeal on the grounds for their execution.
"The Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of people like Montgomery because of his severe mental illness or brain damage. It's deteriorating mentally and we're looking for an opportunity to prove its incompetence," Henry added.
Montgomery was imprisoned in a federal women's prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where staff are trained to deal with mental health issues. His lawyers claim that the jury was never fully known about the serious mental illnesses diagnosed by doctors.
Initially, Montgomery was to be executed in December, but the date was delayed because his lawyers, who are in Nashville, Tennessee, contracted coronavirus while traveling to Texas and worked on his case.
The last time the government executed an inmate was in 1953. This was Bonnie Brown Heady of Missouri, who was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of a young man.
In addition to Montgomery's, there are two other federal executions scheduled to take place this week.
This is the 11th prisoner to receive a lethal injection there since July, when President Donald Trump resumed federal executions after 17 years- the largest in a presidential term in more than 130 years.
Montgomery's death comes in the final days of the Trump administration. President-elect Joe Biden has suggested that he would put a moratorium on the federal death penalty.