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Lisa Montgomery first female inmate to be executed in U.S. in nearly 70 years

Lisa Montgomery became on Wednesday the first female inmate to be executed since 1953, per AP.
Demonstrators protest federal executions of death row inmates, in front of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., in December. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Demonstrators protest federal executions of death row inmates, in front of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., in December. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

The big picture: The 52-year-old Kansas woman was declared dead at 1:31 a.m. after having a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, following a Supreme Court ruling late Tuesday.

  • The court sided with the Tump administration in the 6-3 ruling, one day after a federal judge granted Montgomery a stay of execution hours before she was originally scheduled to die.
  • The Supreme Court's three liberal justices dissented.

Of note: Montgomery's attorneys had argued that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of people like Montgomery who, "due to their severe mental illness or brain damage, do not understand the basis for their executions."

For the record: Federal executions had been stalled for 16 years, until the Trump administration resumed federal capital punishment last July, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez notes.

  • Montgomery was one of three inmates the Department of Justice scheduled to be executed this week — days before the inauguration of President-elect Biden, who's against the federal death penalty.

Background: Montgomery was convicted in 2004 for the murder of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months' pregnant, cutting her baby from her stomach and kidnapping the child.

  • The baby survived the 2004 attack in the northwest Missouri town of Skidmore.

Go deeper: Trump's last word on executions

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

Source: Axios

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