Court of Appeal paves way for execution of single woman sentenced to death

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court paved the way for the execution of the only woman on death row before President-elect Joe Biden took office.

The ruling, released Friday by a three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, found that a lower court judge erred in setting aside Lisa Montgomery’s execution date in an order last week.

U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss had ruled that the Justice Department illegally postponed Montgomery’s execution and he quashed an order from the Director of the Bureau of Prisons scheduling his death for Jan. 12.

Montgomery was due to be put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana in December, but Moss delayed the execution after his lawyers contracted coronavirus visiting their client and asked him to extend the deadline to file a request for mercy.

Moss concluded that under his order, the Bureau of Prisons could not even postpone Montgomery’s execution until at least January 1. But the appeal committee disagreed.

Meaghan VerGow, an attorney for Montgomery, said her legal team will ask the full appeals court to review the case and said Montgomery is not expected to be executed on January 12.

Montgomery was convicted of the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, in the town of Skidmore, northwest Missouri in December 2004. She used a rope to strangle Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, and then cut the little girl in the womb with a kitchen. knife, authorities said.

Montgomery took the child with her and attempted to impersonate the girl as his own, prosecutors said.

But his lawyers have argued that their client suffers from serious mental illness.

Biden opposes the death penalty and his spokesperson TJ Ducklo has said he will work to end its use. But Biden has not said whether he will end federal executions after taking office on January 20.