A federal judge granted Lisa Montgomery, the first woman to face the death penalty at the federal level in nearly seven decades, a temporary stay of execution
pending a review of her mental capacity to understand this punishment.
Montgomery, 52, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection this Tuesday, January 12, at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.
She was convicted in 2004 of murdering a woman who was 8 months pregnant.
He strangled her with a rope and with a kitchen knife extracted the fetus
.
The baby survived and Montgomery, who was 34 at the time, tried to pass her off as his own, but was arrested.
A jury gave a unanimous sentence of death.
[This Californian crafted a $ 10 million pyramid scheme to pay for his luxuries. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison]
"Montgomery's motion to stay the execution is granted to allow the court to hold a hearing to determine his jurisdiction to be executed," said Judge James Hanlon of the Court for the Southern District of Indiana hours before the execution.
Prosecutors appealed the judge's decision.
Federal executions will no longer have to be exclusively with a lethal injection
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Montgomery's attorney, Kelley Henry, said her client
suffers from a serious mental illness
that was "exacerbated by the sexual torture he suffered throughout his life at the hands of his caretakers."
Psychiatric experts submitted affidavits as part of his appeal claiming that the reasons for his execution are not understood.
"The Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of people like Montgomery because of his severe mental illness or brain damage. He is mentally deteriorating and we are looking for an opportunity to prove his incompetence," added Henry.
[Police pursue 6 inmates who escaped from a California jail with a homemade rope]
Montgomery was incarcerated in a women's federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where staff are trained to treat mental health problems.
His lawyers assure that
the jury was never fully aware of the serious mental illnesses
diagnosed by the doctors.
1953 was the last time the government executed a female inmate
.
It was Bonnie Brown Heady from Missouri, who was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of a young man.
[He was in jail for 36 years for a crime he did not commit. He is now one of the favorite contestants on 'America's Got Talent']
Montgomery was initially set to be executed in December, but the date was delayed because her attorneys, who are located in Nashville, Tennessee, contracted coronavirus while traveling to Texas and working on her case.
In addition to Montgomery's execution,
two other federal executions are scheduled to take place this week
.
So far, the Trump Administration has executed 10 people in the past seven months, which is the most executions in a presidential term in more than 130 years.
With information from NBC News and CNN.