Warning: contains graphic content
Lisa Montgomery’s execution took place in 2021, yet her case will remain a subject of discussion for the foreseeable future.
In 2007, Montgomery received a death sentence, three years after the killing of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her murder.
Montgomery cruelly cut the baby out of Stinnett’s womb and attempted to claim the infant as her own child.
The day following the murder, authorities arrested Montgomery after discovering Stinnett’s body. They also found the baby, who was safely returned to her family and raised by her father.
A jury found Montgomery guilty of murder and kidnapping, leading to her death row sentence.
In 2021, Montgomery was executed by lethal injection at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, despite a judge granting a temporary stay of execution just a day prior.
Montgomery’s legal team contended that she was mentally unfit for execution, citing brain damage from birth. A judge ruled that the stay should allow time for a competency hearing to assess her mental state.
Judge Hanlon of the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana wrote: “Ms. Montgomery’s current mental state is so divorced from reality that she cannot rationally understand the government’s rationale for her execution.
“The court will set a time and date for the hearing in a separate order in due course.”
However, the US Supreme Court swiftly overturned the stay, and Montgomery was executed on January 13.
Inmates on death row are typically asked if they wish to make final statements before their execution. When Montgomery was asked, she simply replied, ‘no’.
Following the execution, Montgomery’s attorney, Kelley Henry, who had attempted to halt the execution, stated: “The government stopped at nothing in its zeal to kill this damaged and delusional woman. Lisa Montgomery’s execution was far from justice.”
Another female death row inmate, Christa Gail Pike, is scheduled for execution next year. Her execution, planned for September 30, 2026, will be the first of a woman in Tennessee in 200 years.
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1995 death of Colleen Slemmer. She was only 18 years old at the time and was sentenced to death two years later.