“Handout/Reuters Lisa Montgomery, a federal prison inmate scheduled for execution on Jan. 12, 2021, poses at the Federal Medical Center Fort Worth in an undated photograph, courtesy of her lawyers. Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, is set to be executed on Jan. 12, just days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has pledged to end the death penalty. Montgomery was initially scheduled to be put to death on Dec. 8. However, both her attorneys contracted the coronavirus after visiting her in prison and have been too sick to work on her case. A federal judge has delayed the execution so that Montgomery’s lawyers have more time to prepare her clemency application. They plan to ask President Donald Trump to commute her sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole. If Montgomery’s execution goes forward, she will be the first female federal inmate to be executed in almost 70 years. Montgomery was sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of a pregnant woman, Bobbie Jo Stinnett. Montgomery strangled the woman and cut open her abdomen to remove her 8-month-old fetus. The baby survived. MORE ON THE LISA MONTGOMERY CASE… The Tortured Life And Tragic Crime Of The Only Woman On Death Row Judge Delays Execution Of Only Woman On Federal Death Row ACLU Challenges ‘Torturous Conditions’ Of Only Woman On Federal Death Row Montgomery’s lawyers say that her crime was committed in the midst of a psychotic episode, brought on after suffering years of physical and sexual abuse. A survivor of incest and sex trafficking, she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Mental health experts who have examined her believe that her history of childhood trauma exacerbated a genetic predisposition to mental illness that ran in her family. “It is difficult to grasp the extremity of the horrors Lisa suffered from her earliest childhood, including being raped by her stepfather, handed off to his friends for their use, sold to groups of adult men by her own mother and repeatedly gang raped, and relentlessly beaten and neglected,” said Sandra L. Babcock, clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School, and one of Montgomery’s lawyers. She has taken the lead in helping to delay the execution after both of Montgomery’s lead attorneys — assistant federal public defenders Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell — contracted the coronavirus. Both lawyers made multiple trips to the women’s prison in Texas where Montgomery is imprisoned before they fell ill. According to a doctor who evaluated their health, both have been exhibiting severe symptoms of COVID-19. Once Montgomery’s attorneys recover, they say they will continue working on a clemency petition on her behalf. It is expected to be filed no later than Dec. 24. Montgomery is currently being held in isolation at Federal Medical Center, Carswell, a women’s medical prison in Fort Worth, 德州. Since her execution was set, she has been held under cruel and harsh conditions that are especially traumatizing in light of her history of sexual abuse, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit challenging the conditions. Montgomery has taken full responsibility for the crime, Babcock said in a statement. No other woman has been executed for a similar crime, as most prosecutors have recognized that it is the product of trauma and mental illness, she added. “Despite Lisa’s deteriorating mental health and a much deeper understanding of the trauma she endured, the government plans to kill her,” she said. “Executing Lisa Montgomery would be yet another injustice inflicted on a woman who has known a lifetime of mistreatment.” Montgomery is one of five federal inmates scheduled to be put to death by the Trump administration in the weeks before Biden takes office. They include Brandon Bernard on Dec. 10, Alfred Bourgeois on Dec. 11, Cory Johnson on Jan. 14 and Dustin Higgs on Jan. 15. When reached for comment, Biden spokesperson TJ Ducklo said, “The President-Elect opposes the death penalty, now and in the future, and as president will work to end its use.”
Biden Selects Marcia Fudge As Housing Secretary, Tom Vilsack For Agriculture
88 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["WASHINGTON (美联社) — President-elect Joe Biden has selected Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration,...
John Lennon’s Death Remembered By Yoko Ono, Fellow Beatles And Fans
666 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["纽约 (美联社) — Fans remembered John Lennon with flowers, candles and songs Tuesday, the 40th anniversary of the former Beatle's death after being shot outside his New York City apartment building. In Central Park's...
Trump Trade Adviser Violated Hatch Act With Biden Attacks, Watchdog Says
42 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeatedly violated a federal law that prohibits some members of the federal government from engaging in political activity, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel reported Monday...
Biden To Tap Rochelle Walensky To Lead CDC: Reports
84 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["President-elect Joe Biden plans to tap Rochelle Walensky, the head of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, as his incoming director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Politico and R...
Giuliani Asks Woman To Remove Mask Days Before Virus Diagnosis In Resurfaced Clip
101 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["Just days before President Donald Trump announced that his personal and campaign lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, tested positive for COVID-19, Giuliani asked a witness beside him at a Michigan hearing if she would be comfort...
Trump’s Parting Gift To Biden: An Even Worse Catastrophe In Yemen
72 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["Video credit: Skye Fitzgerald, director, Spin Film As one of its final foreign policy acts in office, the Trump administration could take a step that would push millions of people in Yemen into starvation and prolon...
Biden Predicts ‘Bleak Future’ If Congress Doesn’t Act On COVID-19 Aid
243 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["WILMINGTON, Del. (美联社) — President-elect Joe Biden is predicting a “bleak future” if Congress doesn’t take speedy action on a coronavirus aid bill amid a nationwide spike in the virus that’s hampering the country’s e...
Biden Hints At A Mostly Virtual Inauguration Ceremony: ‘The Key Is Keeping People Safe’
227 观看次数0 评论0 喜欢
["President-elect Joe Biden — who received the most votes in presidential election history — may also end up having the quietest inauguration in recent memory. Biden hinted at a toned-down ceremony devoid of the usua...