Ruling allows for execution of the lone woman on death row
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has cleared theway for the only womanonfederal death row to be executed before President-elect Joe Biden takes office Jan. 20.
The ruling, handed down late Friday by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, concludedthat a lower court judge erredwhenhevacated LisaMontgomery’s execution date inanorder late last month.
U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss had ruled the Justice Department unlawfully rescheduled Montgomery’s execution and he vacated an order from the director of the Bureau of Prisons scheduling her death for Jan. 12.
Montgomery had been scheduled tobe put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, in December, but Moss delayed the execution after her attorneys contracted coronavirus visiting their client and askedhimto extend thetime to file a clemency petition.
Moss concluded that under his order the Bureau of Prisons could not even reschedule Montgomery’s execution until at least Jan. 1. But the appeals panel disagreed.
Meaghan VerGow, an attorney for Montgomery, said her legal team would ask for thefull appeals court to review the case and said Montgomery should not be executed on Jan. 12.
Montgomery was convicted of killing 23-yearoldBobbie Jo Stinnett in the northwest Missouri town of Skidmore in December 2004. She then cut the baby girl from the womb with a kitchen knife, authorities said. Montgomery attempted to pass the girl off as her own, prosecutors said.
Montgomery’s lawyers have arguedthat their client suffers from serious mental illnesses. Biden opposes the death penalty and his spokesman, TJ Ducklo, has said he would work to end its use. But Biden has not said whether he will halt federal executions after he takes office.
India tests vaccine delivery:
India tested itsCOVID19 vaccine delivery system with a nationwide trial Saturday, as it prepares to roll out an inoculation program to stem the coronavirus pandemic.
The trial included data entry into an online platformfor monitoring vaccine delivery, along with testing of cold storageandtransportation arrangements for the vaccine, the health ministry said in a statement.
Themassive exercisewas followed by India’s drug regulator recommending the emergency- use approval of two vaccines for COVID-19 — one developed by Oxford University and U.K.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca, and another by the Indian manufacturer BharatBiotech.
Both vaccines will now have to wait for final approval from the Indian regulator.
India ranks second in the world with more than 10.3 million confirmed coronavirus infections.
Statehood vow by PR governor: Pedro Pierluisi vowed to achieve statehood for Puerto Rico and fight against poverty, corruption and COVID-19 after he was sworninSaturday as theU.S. territory’s newgovernor.
Pierluisi, a Democrat who previously served as Puerto Rico’s representa
tive in Congress for eight years, also promised to prioritize education, lift the government out of bankruptcy and alleviate a deep economic crisis as leader of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.
“I have listened to our people and acknowledged the needs for better governance,” hesaid in abilingual speech with a strong conciliatory tone.
Saturday’s ceremony marked the end of a chaotic four-year period in which Puerto Rico had three governors, includingPierluisi briefly after former Gov. Ricardo Rossello stepped down last year following huge street protests.
Pierluisi, 61, inherits a stagnanteconomy, adivided legislature, a billion-dollar public debt restructuring and a politically fractured U.S. territory hit hard by the pandemicas it still struggles to recover from hurricanes and earthquakes.
Charges after NYE vandal
ism: Sevenpeople are facing felony charges after at least two federal buildings in Philadelphia were vandalized onNewYear’s Eve and thediscovery ofwhatpolice said were Molotov cocktails and other suspicious devices.
Officersreported spotting about50people, all in black, around 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the historic U.S. Customs House, police said. And a man was seen throwing a brick through the windows of a federal building and courthouse shortly before 9 p.m., police said.
Damage to the federal building was estimated at $ 3,000. Anti- police and anti-prison graffiti were scrawledonwalls, a sheriff’s vanwas defaced andseveral windows were broken, police said.
Yemenmissile attackaftermath:
Yemen’sprime minister said Saturday that a missile attack onthe airport inAdenwasmeant “to eliminate” the country’s new
government as it arrived in the key southern city — an assault he blamed on Iranbacked rebels.
Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed spoke to The Associated Press in an interview conducted at his office in theMashiq Palace in Aden. It was the leader’s first interview with international media after he survived Wednesday’s attack that killed at least 25 people and wounded 110 others.
“It’s a major terrorist attack that was meant to eliminate the government,” the premier said. “It was a message against peace and stability inYemen.”
Saeed repeated his government’s accusations that Yemen’s Houthi rebels were responsible for the missile attack on the airport and a drone assault on the palace, shortly after the premier and his Cabinet were transferred there.
Norway landslide toll rises: Thedeath toll rose to four in
NorwayonSaturday following a landslide in the southern community of Ask this week, according to police.
Emergency services recovered a fourth body in an area in which two others had been found throughout theday, aspoliceannounced in anewsconference lateon Saturday.
The landslide tore into Ask early on Wednesday. At least 10 people reported injuries and nine houses collapsed in the town, located about 24 miles northeast of Oslo. About 1,000peoplehadtobe taken to safety.
Alkvist earlier said there aremanypeople still missing and that there is still hope that they will be found alive.
On Friday, before any of the bodies were found, the official count of the missing stood at 10, including two children.
Norwegian police have pledged not to scale down the search even though a rescue team from Sweden has already returned home.