US woman on death row due to be executed

By Vatican News staff reporter

It’s been seventy years since a female federal inmate was executed in the United States.

But on Tuesday, 52 year old Lisa Montgomery is due to be put to death by lethal injection at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Trial and sentence

In 2004, Montgomery killed 23 year old pregnant woman Bobbie Jo Stinnett at her home in Missouri, before cutting out and kidnapping her baby. The baby was recovered and returned to her father.

At her trial in 2007 a jury found her guilty of federal kidnapping resulting in death. It also unanimously recommended a death sentence.

Experts who examined Montgomery after her conviction were of the opinion that by the time of her crime she had been living with psychosis, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorders.

Her lawyers also argue that she is mentally unwell and should not face the death penalty.

Lisa Montgomery is one of 55 women currently on death row in the United States. This latest execution comes just days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

President Donald Trump is the first US President to resume federal executions in nearly two decades.

Bishops’ response

Bishops in the US have continued to call for an end to the death penalty, as the government has continued to ramp up the pace of federal executions in the last days of the Trump presidency.

A recent statement released by US Bishops’ Conference Committee chairman on Pro-Life Activities, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City and Archbishop Coakley called for an end to the executions, saying, "The decision not to execute someone, even someone who has done something terrible, is not ‘soft on crime’; rather, it is strong on the dignity of life.”