{"id":18064,"date":"2021-01-12T09:41:56","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T14:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18064"},"modified":"2021-01-12T09:41:56","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T14:41:56","slug":"lisa-montgomery-judge-halts-execution-of-only-woman-on-us-death-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/01\/12\/lisa-montgomery-judge-halts-execution-of-only-woman-on-us-death-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Montgomery: Judge halts execution of only woman on US death row"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p><b class=\"css-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">A US judge has granted a stay of execution to Lisa Montgomery &#8211; just hours before the only woman on America&#8217;s federal death row was due to be given a lethal injection.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Judge James Hanlon said a competency hearing should be held first.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Montgomery&#8217;s lawyers had argued she was mentally incompetent to be executed, saying she was born brain-damaged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Lisa Montgomery strangled a pregnant woman in Missouri before cutting out and kidnapping the baby in 2004.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Montgomery, now 52, would have been the first female federal inmate to be put to death in almost 70 years had her execution in Terre Haute, Indiana, gone ahead as scheduled on 12 January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<div class=\"css-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi3\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-55587260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Looking for answers in the life of a killer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-55236260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In Trump\u2019s final days, a rush of federal executions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-49122869\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US resumption of federal executions criticised<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-mysbf6-ComponentWrapper-CrossheadComponentWrapper e1xue1i84\" data-component=\"crosshead-block\">\n<h2 class=\"css-qozapo-StyledHeading e1fj1fc10\">What did the judge rule?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>In Monday&#8217;s ruling,\u00a0<a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/12M0YUcpt1FGUfyc0aWfT-4NBkPnSEEht\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Judge Hanlon of the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana wrote:<\/a>\u00a0&#8220;Ms Montgomery&#8217;s motion to stay execution is granted to allow the court to conduct a hearing to determine Ms Montgomery&#8217;s competence to be executed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;Ms. Montgomery&#8217;s current mental state is so divorced from reality that she cannot rationally understand the government&#8217;s rationale for her execution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;The court will set a time and date for the hearing in a separate order in due course,&#8221; Judge Hanlon wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Montgomery&#8217;s attorneys welcomed the ruling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;The court was right to put a stop to Lisa Montgomery&#8217;s execution,&#8221; attorney Kelley Henry said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;As the court found, Mrs Montgomery &#8216;made a strong showing&#8217; of her current incompetence to be executed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;Mrs Montgomery has brain damage and severe mental illness that was exacerbated by the lifetime of sexual torture she suffered at the hands of caretakers,&#8221; the attorney added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Prosecutors have filed a notice to appeal the judge&#8217;s ruling, CNN reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-mysbf6-ComponentWrapper-CrossheadComponentWrapper e1xue1i84\" data-component=\"crosshead-block\">\n<h2 class=\"css-qozapo-StyledHeading e1fj1fc10\">Can Montgomery escape death penalty?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>It is the second time that Montgomery&#8217;s execution has been postponed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Her execution date was originally set for last December &#8211; but a stay was put in place after her attorneys contracted Covid-19.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The last woman to be executed by the US government was Bonnie Heady, who died in a gas chamber in Missouri in 1953, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Federal executions had been on pause for 17 years before President Donald Trump ordered them to resume earlier last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>There are suggestions that Montgomery now may even escape the death penalty entirely, as President-elect Joe Biden &#8211; who is due to take office on 20 January &#8211; has said he will seek to end federal executions.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-55629579\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">A US judge has granted a stay of execution to Lisa Montgomery &#8211; just hours before the only woman on America&#8217;s federal death row was due to be given a lethal injection. Judge James Hanlon <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/01\/12\/lisa-montgomery-judge-halts-execution-of-only-woman-on-us-death-row\/\" title=\"Lisa Montgomery: Judge halts execution of only woman on US death row\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,109,2,3],"tags":[1679,3205,4823,7392,371],"class_list":{"0":"post-18064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"category-headline","9":"category-news","10":"category-usa","11":"tag-capital-punishment","12":"tag-executions","13":"tag-indiana","14":"tag-lisa-montgomery","15":"tag-missouri","16":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18065,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18064\/revisions\/18065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}