DOJ schedules first execution of female federal inmate in 6 decades

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A Kansas woman convicted of strangling a pregnant woman, cutting her body open and kidnapping her baby in 2004 is scheduled to be executed in December, marking the first instance of a federal female inmate being put to death in more than six decades, officials said Friday.

The woman, Lisa Montgomery, was found guilty in 2007 of federal kidnapping resulting in death in connection with a premeditated murder-kidnap scheme. The U.S. Department of Justice said Montgomery is scheduled for lethal injection on Dec. 8 at the U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute in Indiana.

“Her conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal, and her request for collateral relief was rejected by every court that considered it,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Montgomery traveled from Kansas to the Missouri home of her victim, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, on the pretense of purchasing a puppy, prosecutors said. Upon arrival, Montgomery strangled Stinnett until she fell unconscious and used a kitchen knife to cut out her baby. When Stinnett regained consciousness and attempted to fight back, Montgomery strangled her and fled with the child.

A jury rejected the defense’s argument that Montgomery was suffering from delusions at the time, found her guilty and recommended a death sentence.

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The Trump administration resumed executions of federal inmates earlier this summer for the first time in nearly two decades.

The Justice Department also scheduled Brandon Bernard, a 40-year-old man found guilty in the 1999 killing of two youth ministers in Texas. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 10.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.