US carries out first federal execution of woman in decades
The US Justice Department said Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 am Eastern Time (0631 GMT) at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. - File pic
WASHINGTON: An American woman who murdered a pregnant dog breeder in order to steal her baby was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday, becoming the first female to be executed by US federal authorities in nearly seven decades.
The US Justice Department said Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 am Eastern Time (0631 GMT) at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
It said the execution was "in accordance with the capital sentence unanimously recommended by a federal jury and imposed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri".
The US Supreme Court cleared the way for Montgomery's execution just hours earlier -- despite doubts about her mental state -- after the government of President Donald Trump had pushed for the application of the death penalty.
Montgomery's defenders did not deny the seriousness of her crime: in 2004, she killed a pregnant 23-year-old in order to steal her baby.
But her lawyer Kelley Henry, in a statement, called the decision -- the first for a female inmate since 1953 -- a "vicious, unlawful, and unnecessary exercise of authoritarian power."
"The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was on full display tonight," Henry said. "Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame."
The execution came after a legal back-and-forth that ended with the country's highest court allowing it to proceed.
Unable to have a child, Montgomery carefully identified her victim -- 23-year-old dog breeder Bobbie Jo Stinnett -- online.
Under the guise of buying a puppy, Montgomery went to Stinnett's home, where she strangled her and cut the baby from her body.
In 2007 she was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death and handed a death sentence.
Her defenders believe that she suffered from severe mental health issues stemming from abuse she suffered as a child. She did not understand the meaning of her sentence, they said, a prerequisite for execution.
On Monday evening, a federal judge offered the defense a brief lifeline, ordering a stay of execution to allow time to assess Montgomery's mental state.
"The record before the Court contains ample evidence that Ms. Montgomery's current mental state is so divorced from reality that she cannot rationally understand the government's rationale for her execution," the ruling stated.
The US Justice Department said Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 am Eastern Time (0631 GMT) at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
It said the execution was "in accordance with the capital sentence unanimously recommended by a federal jury and imposed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri".
The US Supreme Court cleared the way for Montgomery's execution just hours earlier -- despite doubts about her mental state -- after the government of President Donald Trump had pushed for the application of the death penalty.
Montgomery's defenders did not deny the seriousness of her crime: in 2004, she killed a pregnant 23-year-old in order to steal her baby.
But her lawyer Kelley Henry, in a statement, called the decision -- the first for a female inmate since 1953 -- a "vicious, unlawful, and unnecessary exercise of authoritarian power."
"The craven bloodlust of a failed administration was on full display tonight," Henry said. "Everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame."
The execution came after a legal back-and-forth that ended with the country's highest court allowing it to proceed.
Unable to have a child, Montgomery carefully identified her victim -- 23-year-old dog breeder Bobbie Jo Stinnett -- online.
Under the guise of buying a puppy, Montgomery went to Stinnett's home, where she strangled her and cut the baby from her body.
In 2007 she was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death and handed a death sentence.
Her defenders believe that she suffered from severe mental health issues stemming from abuse she suffered as a child. She did not understand the meaning of her sentence, they said, a prerequisite for execution.
On Monday evening, a federal judge offered the defense a brief lifeline, ordering a stay of execution to allow time to assess Montgomery's mental state.
"The record before the Court contains ample evidence that Ms. Montgomery's current mental state is so divorced from reality that she cannot rationally understand the government's rationale for her execution," the ruling stated.
(FILES) This file handout photo provided by the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department shows death row inmate Lisa Montgomery appears in a booking photo released 20 December 2004 in Kansas City, Kansas.
An American woman who murdered a pregnant dog breeder in order to steal her baby was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday, becoming the first female to be executed by US federal authorities in nearly seven decades. (Photo by - / Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department / AFP)
But an appeals court overturned that decision on Tuesday, leaving it up to the US Supreme Court to decide. It said the execution could go ahead.
Trump, like his many of his conservative constituents, is a strong supporter of the death penalty and ignored a plea for clemency from Montgomery's supporters.
Despite the decline of capital punishment in the US and around the world, Trump's administration resumed federal executions in July after a 17-year hiatus and has been carrying them out at an unprecedented rate ever since.
Since the summer, 10 Americans have died by lethal injection in Terre Haute. In addition to Montgomery, two men are scheduled for federal execution this week.
Their executions were stayed on Tuesday due to them having contracted Covid-19.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin on Monday announced the introduction of legislation to end federal executions. It could be passed once president-elect Joe Biden takes office next week and Democrats regain control of the Senate.
In a scathing statement, Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun known for her activism against the death penalty, spoke over the weekend of federal prosecutors "working all day and through the nights" to counter the appeals of federal inmates.
"You may not have to see the fear or smell the sweat in the execution chamber, but your hand is in this," Prejean wrote, urging them to "just say 'no' this week to working to get one woman and two men executed the week before the Inauguration" of Biden.
Former guards of the penitentiary in Terre Haute have written to the Justice Department to request that the executions be postponed until the penitentiary staff are vaccinated against Covid-19.
Between the executioners, guards, witnesses, and lawyers, an execution assembles dozens of people in a closed environment, which is conducive to the spread of the virus.
US states, including the deeply conservative Texas, have suspended executions for months due to the pandemic -- unlike the federal government, which has pushed to carry out many before Trump leaves power. -- AFP
Trump, like his many of his conservative constituents, is a strong supporter of the death penalty and ignored a plea for clemency from Montgomery's supporters.
Despite the decline of capital punishment in the US and around the world, Trump's administration resumed federal executions in July after a 17-year hiatus and has been carrying them out at an unprecedented rate ever since.
Since the summer, 10 Americans have died by lethal injection in Terre Haute. In addition to Montgomery, two men are scheduled for federal execution this week.
Their executions were stayed on Tuesday due to them having contracted Covid-19.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin on Monday announced the introduction of legislation to end federal executions. It could be passed once president-elect Joe Biden takes office next week and Democrats regain control of the Senate.
In a scathing statement, Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun known for her activism against the death penalty, spoke over the weekend of federal prosecutors "working all day and through the nights" to counter the appeals of federal inmates.
"You may not have to see the fear or smell the sweat in the execution chamber, but your hand is in this," Prejean wrote, urging them to "just say 'no' this week to working to get one woman and two men executed the week before the Inauguration" of Biden.
Former guards of the penitentiary in Terre Haute have written to the Justice Department to request that the executions be postponed until the penitentiary staff are vaccinated against Covid-19.
Between the executioners, guards, witnesses, and lawyers, an execution assembles dozens of people in a closed environment, which is conducive to the spread of the virus.
US states, including the deeply conservative Texas, have suspended executions for months due to the pandemic -- unlike the federal government, which has pushed to carry out many before Trump leaves power. -- AFP
So much fuss over 1 execution in 500 yo Bullyland.
ReplyDeleteBut no fuss over unknown THOUSANDS in 5,000 yo Bullyland....?
QUOTE
Executions Around the World
2019
Amnesty International recorded at least 657 executions in 20 countries worldwide in 2019. The total — one of the smallest since Amnesty began tracking executions in 1979 — was a 5% decrease from the at least 690 executions recorded in 2018 and was down 60% from the 25-year-high total of 1,634 reported executions in 2015. As in previous years, the execution total does not include the estimated thousands of executions carried out in China, which treats data on the death penalty as a state secret. Excluding China, 86% of all reported executions took place in just four countries — Iran (251), Saudi Arabia (184), Iraq (100+), and Egypt (32+). The 22 executions in the U.S. were the sixth most of any nation, although Vietnam’s and North Korea’s execution totals are not known.
UNQUOTE
Blurred mfer keeps up with yr farted c&p monkey paradings, right?
Delete"estimated thousands of executions carried out in China, which treats data on the death penalty as a state secret"
Estimate! Thousands of executions!
Just bcoz these guesstimates + western propaganda CAN'T trace proper death penalty records in China due to Mandarin ignorance & inherent self-biasness, a commonly used tag of state secrets is been conveniently labelled.
So easy in doing western propagandist researches & swallowed wholesome by mfers all over the world!
BTW, executions carry out by the state, like it or not, r state legislative procedure. Superficial bleeding-heartish chants r just proving yr bloody ignorances about cultural & ex humanistic expressions!
Do mfers, like u or Amnesty International, care anything about the ten of thousands of death caused by ex-crime violences outside the state legislative jurisdictions that happened in yr USofA?
Which is the show of the mature state of the nation - numbers of death caused by state execution in serious crime deterrence or deaths caused by the proven failure of public safety as showcased in the US parlays?
U keep playing the bullying words - but obviously u fail miserably about our miniscule bullying tactics no matter how many years u tagged them!
Blurred pariah of the nth degree been caught & yet still want to showcase its bloody ignorantly biasness.
The CCP executes by far the greatest number of people of any country in the world.
ReplyDeleteYet it never attracts any criticism, because so many happily feed off CCP Dedak.
Yr proven number to substantiate yr fart?
DeleteNot even Amnesty International DARE to make such claim officially in its reports!
Maybe CCP DOESN'T need criticism from shit-feeding demoNcratic dickheads to make such a show.
U did!
many go missing in ccp land, not reported n yet ccp shit keep wanting us to substantiate, funny logic of ccp fanboy.
ReplyDeleteSo, u r the official numeric keeper!
DeleteAppointed by who?
That fart filled well trumpeted by mfers all over, right?
More so not need to substantiate the claims! Just fart as u like! Typically demoNcrstic arrogance.
from time to time we read the western scientist discovery that wuhan virus might be started in italy australia usa spain germany while the ccp scientist discovery is always wuhan virus not started in wuhan.
Deletethats how official work in an authoritarian regime, u guess appointed by who?
Clear yr mind & rewrite yr fart in proper England! Not using that 南魔萬 England of yrs to translate it from Formosa fart!
DeleteThat's how dickheads work for demoNcratic regime. They don't need appointment just a crumb of shit from their meme-ed master.
U believe in western farts & numbers ALL the time. Mfer, do use yr hp6 zhongwen to listen to this dissection of the numeric from the west.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/Kw1-eZHk6eI
Hope u jump on the bandwagon of that f*cked Formosa katak, Chen Shih-chung/陳時中) & use his favoured western covid-19 vaccines.
Mfer, 3 months to see the reversed trumpeted claim. Make sure u r still getting air to fart from the hospital bed!
the west number can be asked, scrutinized, rebutted n debated. otoh in most cases, i dun believe a single word from communist n islamist, one can gloss over any issue for so called sake of party, the other can halalkan lie for so called sake of religion. 2x5.
DeleteMfer, have any probing medical questions, both numeric & vigorous after-effect consequences, about those 'effective' level of the mRNA vaccines been "asked, scrutinized, rebutted n debated"?
DeleteBoth Pfizer & Moderna have only loosely descriptive reports of less than 100 pages & 'recorded' timing of approval under that f*cked "wasp speed" insistence!
That's current western numbers & details, concerning commercial monetary gains playing with millions of live, as been shamefully big-mouthed by mfer, like u.
Mfer, NOBODY has asked u to believe any "single word from communist n islamist"!
It's yr own free choice! Remember yr f*cked demoNcratic doctrine?
Just keep to yr fart & keep reminding yrself NOT to touch anything from China. OK?
WRT the zombies, talk to yr dangdut pals to rephrase it fart lah!
ccp bought 100 mil doses.
DeleteCCP brought?
DeleteOr yr katak-ised fart?
Which company bought & when is the supply delivered?
Either answers prove that CCP China is offering more personal choices & hands off the private dealings than mfers, like u, keep complaining about its authoritarian grip!
Truly mfering blur!
Oooop… forget to add that both Pfizer & Moderna vaccines have not applied for emergency usage in China!
DeleteWakakakakaka…
So, just fart from a roadside rumour to justify yr know-nothingness!
do yr own research, see how sneaky is ccp. or u can read forum in toudiao, some even claim pfizer is china own so thats perfectly fine to have, only in ccp land u can see zombie with all sort of humor.
DeleteOwn research!
DeleteMfer, my researches r definitely much reliable & vigorous than all the farts that u have been spilling out so far!
Toudiao (头条) is a social media site opens to all & sundry. Mfering 公知， 恨国党 included.
So what's yr faet AGAIN?
犬养mfer, there r zombies/morons/katak with all sorts of humor too in this world.
Do a peek with the current stage of yr land of the free USA lah!
Or can't u fart on that score?
thats chinese versus zombie, unfortunately no election, never know the true numbers, so my assumption stay, 99% zombie.
DeleteNo election?
DeleteThat's a still mess that has past its shelf life long long time ago!
But how do one expect a katak living under a fart filled well knows anything but the echo that rings through the wall of that well.
Assumption - out from the bottom of the cesspool!
https://www.malaysianow.com/news/2020/12/27/details-emerge-on-case-of-singapore-woman-facing-death-by-firing-squad-in-china/
ReplyDeleteThe craven bloodlust of the CCP....
don't expect CCP fanboys here to ever mention it
Wakakakakaka…
ReplyDeleteHow descriptive & sensationalized about a distorted story by a propaganda loud mouth!
Why don't u get someone (犬养mfer?) to translate that piece of shit from Formosa?
It's even more unprintable for a old fool who keeps searching CCP bashing news in a wrong place!
BTW, did anyone ever tell u how to read investigative journalism fart?