A federal judge is delaying the execution of the only woman sentenced to death this year

Washington, DC – Federal District Judge Randolph Moss struck down an order from the director of prisons in the United States, setting the execution of the only woman sentenced to this sentence in the country this year on January 12, and now facing a new sentence. date for after Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration.

Lisa Montgomery was found guilty of strangling an eight-month-pregnant woman and then using a kitchen knife to retrieve a baby from her womb.

The federal judge alleged that the Justice Department had illegally resisted the execution, which could lead to President Donald Trump’s administration setting the new date.

The woman’s execution was initially scheduled for this month at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, but Moss postponed it after defense attorneys asked him to extend the time limit to file a clemency petition. The lawyers contracted the corona virus when they visited their client.

Moss had banned the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing the death penalty against Lisa Montgomery before the end of the year and authorities are opposing it to Jan. 12, but the judge ruled Wednesday that the agency was also prohibited from delaying the execution during the delay to oppose. Valid.

“The court therefore concludes that”does not comply with the law ‘the order of the client to set a new execution date while a judicial postponement is in forceMoss wrote.

A Justice spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Montgomery was found guilty of the December 2004 murder of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Skidmore, northwestern Missouri. Montgomery used a rope to strangle Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, and then pulled a baby out with a kitchen knife her womb, authorities said.

According to prosecutors, Montgomery removed the baby from Stinnett’s body, took her and tried to pretend to be his daughter. Montgomery’s defense has argued that she is suffering from severe mental illness.

In general, according to the guidelines of the Department of Justice, a person sentenced to death must be informed 20 days in advance that he will be executed. If the Justice Department decides to reschedule the January date, the judge’s order would mean the execution must take place after Biden assumes the presidency on January 20.

A spokesman for Biden said The Associated Press that the president-elect “opposes the death penalty now and in the futureAnd as an agent will try to terminate his application. However, representatives for Biden did not say whether there would be an immediate pause in executions when he took office.

“Due to the severity of Ms. Montgomery’s mental disorders, the sexual and physical torture she endured in her life, and the connection between her trauma and the facts of her crime, we ask President Trump to grant her leniency and commute her. sentencing to life imprisonment, ”one of the defense attorneys, Sandra Babcock, said in a statement.

Two other federal inmates will be executed in January, but after they tested positive for the coronavirus, their lawyers have requested a reprieve.