Lisa Montgomery
UNITED STATES EXECUTES FIRST FEMALE DEATH ROW INMATE IN OVER SEVEN DECADES
Today, January 13, 2021 in the wee hours of the morning, The United states executed Lisa Montgomery- the first female death row inmate in over seven decades
Lisa Montgomery had been on death row since 2004 when she committed a very gruesome crime that led to her arrest, imprisonment and being on the death row.
On December 2004, Montgomery went into the house of pregnant 23-year old Bobbie Jo Stinett and strangled her to death. But that was not all, she cut Bobbie’s unborn eight month old child out of her belly and went away with the baby, who luckily was still alive.
Hours later, Bobbie Stinett was discovered by her mother who called 911 instantly. Stinett died eventually. The following day, Montgomery was arrested in her farmhouse in Kansas and the infant was recovered from her and put in custody of her father.
Lisa and Bobbie Stinett found each other in a chat room and this led to exchanging e-mails about their pregnancies and how Lisa eventually found Bobbie.
In 2007, Lisa Montgomery was found guilty of murder and had been on death row ever since. After midnight today, she was executed by lethal injection and was said to be the first female federal inmate in 67 years to be executed by the United States Federal government. She is also the fourth woman ever to be executed in the United States since 1953.
Lisa Montgomery was said to be a product of a dysfunctional family. She was constantly abused by her stepfather for many years and she tried to get over it by drinking alcohol. She tried getting married at the age of 18 to get past her situations, but both the first and second marriage resulted in abuse too.
According to The Washington Post, Lisa’s attorney- Kelley Henry had argued that his client was just too mentally ill to understand the kind of punishment to be meted on her. He said ‘Our constitution forbids the execution of a person who is unable to rationally understand her execution’ When she was arrested, doctors confirmed that she had brain damage and bipolar disorder.
Even though her lawyers tried to prevent the execution by going to federal appeal courts in St Louis, Chicago and DC, after so much deliberation, the Supreme Court ruled out that she should be executed.
According to her community and the victim’s family. ‘The nation deserves better’.
