Feds execute Montgomery, first woman in 67 years
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – After a flurry of last-minute court orders, hours of uncertainty and one final plea to reconsider her competency, Lisa Montgomery became the first woman executed by the federal government in 67 years early Wednesday.
Montgomery, 52, was executed by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute. Her time of death was 1:31 a.m., 71⁄2 after her scheduled time of execution, according to The Associated Press. As both sides filed appeal after appeal, Montgomery spent her final moments in a cell within the brick execution building just steps away from the execution chamber.
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Montgomery’s execution with a pair of orders just before midnight. The high court lifted a stay of execution put in place by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and rejected a final stay application from Montgomery’s lawyers.
Montgomery’s attorneys have said she endured physical and sexual abuse beginning in childhood and that she suffers from mental illness. Late Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Hanlon had granted a stay to the execution.
In 2004, Montgomery drove from Melvern, Kansas, to Skidmore, Mo., under the guise of adopting a puppy from Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, a dog breeder. She strangled Stinnett before performing a crude cesarean section and fleeing with the baby.