Federal judge delays execution of only woman on U.S. death row

WASHINGTON — A federal judge said the Justice Department unlawfully rescheduled the execution of the only woman on federal death row, potentially setting up the Trump administration to schedule the execution after president-elect Joe Biden takes office.

U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss also vacated an order from the director of the Bureau of Prisons that had set Lisa Montgomery’s execution date for Jan. 12. Montgomery had previously been scheduled to be put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., this month, but Moss delayed the execution after her attorneys contracted the coronavirus visiting their client and asked to extend the amount of time to file a clemency petition.

Moss prohibited the Bureau of Prisons from carrying out Lisa Montgomery’s execution before the end of the year and officials rescheduled her execution date for Jan. 12. But Moss ruled Wednesday that the agency was also prohibited from rescheduling the date while a stay was in place.

Montgomery was convicted of killing 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Skidmore, Miss., in December 2004. She used a rope to strangle Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, and then a kitchen knife to cut the baby girl from the womb, authorities said. Prosecutors said Montgomery removed the baby from Stinnett’s body and attempted to pass the girl off as her own. Montgomery’s legal team has argued that their client suffers from serious mental illnesses.