A federal appeals court ruling clears the way for the only woman on federal death row to be executed.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a lower judge was wrong to vacate Lisa Montgomery’s execution date last week. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss prohibited the Bureau of Prisons from carrying out Montgomery’s execution until at least Jan. 1, after her attorneys contracted coronavirus while visiting their client, and they requested the judge extend the amount of time to file a clemency petition.
Montgomery was initially set to be put to death in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Dec. 8. Her execution was rescheduled for Jan. 12, which the judge vacated in the ruling that was just overturned.
Montgomery was convicted of killing a 23-year-old pregnant woman in Missouri in December of 2004. The now 52-year-old used a rope to strangle the woman, then used a kitchen knife to cut the fetus from her womb. Prosecutors said Montgomery removed the baby, took the child with her, and passed the girl off as her own.
She would be the latest in a string of federal executions that were approved last year by Attorney General Bill Barr. The executions have continued through the lame-duck period of President Trump’s only term in office. The government has executed 10 people under the Trump administration, which is the most since the presidency of Grover Cleveland in the 1890s.
President-elect Joe Biden has said he opposes the death penalty and will work to end its use when he takes office. However, Biden’s representatives have not said whether executions would be immediately paused once the Democrat enters the White House.
