US judge again delays execution of woman on federal death row

A judge has further delayed the planned execution of the only woman on federal death row in the US.

In a ruling that will potentially leave the Trump administration with no choice but to postpone the execution beyond its term in office, a federal judge found that an attempt to reschedule it for January was unlawful.

Lisa Montgomery, 52, was convicted of killing 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in the north-west Missouri town of Skidmore in December 2004.

After strangling Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, Montgomery cut the baby girl from the womb with a kitchen knife. The child survived and prosecutors said Montgomery then attempted to pass it off as her own.

Montgomery was previously scheduled to be put to death in December at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, but the US district court judge Randolph Moss delayed the execution after her attorneys contracted coronavirus and asked him to extend the time allowed to file a clemency petition.

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

“The court, accordingly, concludes that the director’s order setting a new execution date while the court’s stay was in effect not in accordance with law,’” Moss wrote.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DoJ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under the order, the Bureau of Prisons cannot reschedule Montgomery’s execution until at least 1 January. Generally, under DoJ guidelines, a death row inmate must be notified at least 20 days before the execution.

Because of the judge’s order, if the DoJ chooses to reschedule the date in January, it could mean the execution would be scheduled after Joe Biden’s inauguration on 20 January.

A spokesperson for Biden told the Associated Press that the president-elect “opposes the death penalty now and in the future” and would work as president to end its use in office.

Biden’s representatives have not said whether executions would be paused immediately once he takes office.

Montgomery’s legal team have argued that she has serious mental illnesses. One of her lawyers, Sandra Babcock, said in a statement: “Given the severity of Mrs Montgomery’s mental illness, the sexual and physical torture she endured throughout her life, and the connection between her trauma and the facts of her crime, we appeal to President Trump to grant her mercy and commute her sentence to life imprisonment.”