US carries out its 1st execution of female inmate since 1953

[dalton99a]

Source: Associated Press

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — A Kansas woman was executed Wednesday for strangling an expectant mother in Missouri and cutting the baby from her womb, the first time in nearly seven decades that the U.S. government has put to death a female inmate.

Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. She was the 11th prisoner to receive a lethal injection there since July when President Donald Trump, an ardent supporter of capital punishment, resumed federal executions following 17 years without one.

“The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was on full display tonight,” Montgomery’s attorney, Kelley Henry said in a statement. “Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame.”

“The government stopped at nothing in its zeal to kill this damaged and delusional woman,” Henry said. “Lisa Montgomery’s execution was far from justice.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/2-federal-executions-halted-d29e4250646d5e177df53efa64da6163

[catrose]

1. I thought a court paused thsis and other executions? Guess not

[LeftInTX]

3. Stay of Execution was lifted of USSC around 8 pm this evening

BREAKING: #SCOTUS has lifted stay on federal execution set for tonight of Lisa Montgomery. 3 Dem appointees dissent. Ruling overturns DC Circuit's halt. Another application is pending but it appears the execution will go forward

Doc:

Link to tweet

To be honest, I'm glad the appeals went through before Biden was president. I hope there are no more federal executions scheduled before Jan 20th.

I feel bad for death row inmates. They don't know if they are going to be executed until the last minute. I thought it was a "Texas thing", where the supreme court denies a stay and within a few minutes, they're gone. I guess it happens in federal level too....

[Miguelito Loveless]

12. Because one thing "pro-life justices" love

it's executing people.

[C Moon]

2. I was just reading about this case: it was brutal.

I guess the daughter is still alive. I hope she and her father are doing well.

[LeftInTX]

4. Groan: Two more cases scheduled before Jan 20th

Their executions were stayed due to Covid......

Two more executions are scheduled this week, for Corey Johnson on Thursday and Dustin Higgs on Friday. Both of their executions have been halted by a federal court judge as the men are still recovering from Covid-19. Prosecutors intend to appeal the ruling on Higgs and Johnson, according to court documents.

[twodogsbarking]

5. Americans are the best

at killing people.

[Maxheader]

6. one problem, imho..

Is there can never be 100 percent validation in cases with no witnesses.?..

[Harker]

8. Witnesses can be wrong. Or lie. n/t

[Cozmo]

25. There was no doubt that this woman cut the fetus from her victim's womb committing a double murder

Yes, Montgomery was a twisted soul, but the crime was heinous. Seriously, as much as I oppose the taking of another's life, how would you feel?

[Harker]

29. I've told my wife that should I be murdered

I would posthumously ask that no death penalty be pursued.

Yes, that is an especially atrocious crime. Sickening.

My comment on the fallability of witness testimony was intended to be applied broadly, not specifically to this or any other particular case.

[alphafemale]

7. Her crime was as horrific as you get.

Completely vile and premeditated against a victim lured to her death.

Killing her does nothing to erase that though.

America has way too much of a blood lust sense of justice than is fathomable for a nation where people are supposed to be educated.

[marble falls]

20. You're not considering the whole story. There was no justice served last night, authorities ...

... only buried the result of official neglect and missed opportunities to help this woman who lived a most tortured life failed by literally everyone who had official contact with this poor woman her entire life.

Want to read some real horror? Read about her ENTIRE life.

She was a victim, too.

[Cozmo]

26. Do you seriously believe that this woman can be helped while serving a life sentence in our prisons?

[marble falls]

37. There's no salvage here. But surely you aren't suggesting that because she is "broken" ...

... and there would be no advantage to a life term, dying was a good thing for society and her?

That's just a step from euthanasia. Quality of life, a desire to remove broken and less than humans from society inspired killing millions not that long ago.

[Matilda]

41. Thank you for saying that

I was shocked when I first read what she'd done. But then I read what happened to her - one of the main perpetrators being her own mother - and it was too much. Such a sweet, open face she had when she was a child; it broke my heart.

I don't believe in the death penalty, ever. But this is the first time I've shed tears for someone who was executed.


Edit: sp.

[marble falls]

42. This one was doubly wrong. Thanks for the support.

[alphafemale]

36. I am not in favor of the death penalty even for her.

Killing her will not erase what she did.

But there is no excuse for what she did.


People that have a bad childhood should be allowed to slaughter innocent people?

[marble falls]

38. Who said that!?!? Let's both join up and mope slap him!!!

"People that have a bad childhood should be allowed to slaughter innocent people?" Whoever said that is wrong.

She was broken, but she was also part of society: part of us. Obviously (at least to me) is that she would have been better served by indefinite confinement in a high security facility with intensive therapy. Like what they did for John Hinckley Jr.

[left-of-center2012]

9. She committed a brutal murder

She strangled a pregnant woman to death and then cut her womb open and stole her baby.

[marble falls]

21. And she was raped from three years old by father, step-father, family, family friends ...

... beaten, starved, keep from school, forced to sleep in the basement on concrete, beaten raped by husbands, ex-husbands, and their friends. She was sterile from her teens from complications of STDs.

The murder of this poor soul is on OUR heads.

[left-of-center2012]

23. There is no excuse for the horrible murder she committed

nope

none

zero

zip

[marble falls]

24. So I guess the quality of mercy IS strained ...

“The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

This woman deserved mercy.

And before you type it: No! No one thought she should have been cut loose. Her life was not an excuse or license. It was an "extenuating circumstance" and it should have kept her out of the death chamber.

[left-of-center2012]

30. Tell that to the dead woman

To her daughter.
To her husband.

[marble falls]

32. The dead get no mercy, they get no justice. They are beyond that ...

... I think Christ said it aptly on the cross, "Bless them Father, they know not what they do." I sure don't think she was in her right mind, I don't believe she is as a criminal so much as not of her right mind due to her beyond horrible.

I don't yell. Anyways, you seem to be doing enough of it for both of us.


Justice is not about the crimes. It's not about getting even, getting 'justice' for the victims. It's about 'trying' society's value against an alleged crime, to give 'hearing' to what is a dispute. The victim is actually a witness or evidence.

[RobinA]

34. So, Did She

come back to life once this woman was executed? If not, this state-sponsored killing was nothing more than blood lust.

[marble falls]

39. The only thing most of these angry pro-death penalty project in their anger is "blood lust".

[orangecrush]

10. Everything about this case

Says "extreme mental illness".

Peace to the family of the victim, and this poor soul's suffering is over.

[ADK]

11. But it was premeditated.

She planned her crime and researched the Caesarian procedure in advance. The woman clearly had some mental health issues, but her forethought suggests that she had the mental capacity to understand what she was doing and to discern right from wrong. Her crime also was unbearably cruel. I don’t know about her mental state at the time of execution.

While I’m opposed to the death penalty as a general matter because the justice system has proven itself to be imperfect and fallible, there certainly are some crimes that are just so heinous that the perpetrator should lose the right to live among us. This may be one of them. But the easy cases where guilt is undisputed shouldn’t give rise to the rule.

[BuddhaGirl]

13. The US needs to join

the rest of the civilized world. There are no exceptions to the DP.

We are either for it or against it. It is not "justice."

[TexasBushwhacker]

40. It will s not justice. It is vengeance.

And after all, "Vengeance is MINE, saith the Lord."

[orangecrush]

16. So that 10% of the time

When we have executed innocent people is the acceptable cost of satisfying our bloodlust?

[marble falls]

22. Quit looking at snapshots, see the whole movie.

[Cozmo]

27. Please don't assume that the posters have not viewed the whole movie

We are making short posts here. but I can assure you that the thoughts posted here well thought out based on the details of this horrid event from both criminal and victim's experience.

[marble falls]

28. Did you look past the crime? What do you make of her brutized life? No one ever went to jail.

[ADK]

33. Thank you.

People here seem to comment based on headlines or subjects without actually reading articles or posts, and seem to take issue with forum members who don’t share the view that is most commonly accepted on this forum. This is pretty ironic for a forum that is “Democratic.’ I certainly have viewed the “whole movie,” and my opinion regarding the death penalty should be clear to anyone who took the time to read my post.

The easy cases where perpetrators are indisputably guilty of awful crimes and capitol punishment can be more easily justified make bad law unfortunately. While the mental health of the perpetrator here certainly raises issues, the fact is her crime was horrendous, and there is at least some evidence that she she was legally competent when she committed the crime.

[RobinA]

35. Capital Punishment

is never justified. Legal competence has nothing to do with sentences for crimes. You have to be competent to be tried.

[Paladin]

14. Hey, trump had to do SOMETHING to cheer himself up. (nt)

[in2herbs]

15. This info is wrong. Karla Faye Tucker on 2/4/98 was executed by TX when Bush refused to

stop the execution. She was the first woman to be executed since the Civil War. (I remembered this happening and a quick Google search turned up this info.)

[orangecrush]

17. Correct

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. She was executed in a state prison

Executions in federal prisons are far more rare, because most murders are state, not federal crimes.

[TexasBushwhacker]

19. Her crime was horrifying. So was her life.

Warning - descriptions of physical and sexual abuse

https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a34716810/lisa-montgomery-death-row-execution-trump/

[Marrah_Goodman]

31. He story is so sad

Her whole life has been a horror, including the horror of the crime she committed.

[Quackers]

43. This is one area I personally break ranks with the majority.

I’m not opposed to the death penalty. It should be used sparingly and in the worst of cases where guilt is unquestionable.