The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday night that “uterine counterfeiter” Lisa Montgomery would be put to death, a day after a federal judge in Indiana delayed her execution due to her mental health.
The six to three votes, means that Montgomery will be the first woman to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years.
The decision comes eight days before President Trump, who has been under execution since last year, leaves office. President-elect Joe Biden adamantly opposes the death penalty.
On Monday, federal judge Patrick Hanlon blocked Montgomery’s execution, citing her deteriorating mental health condition.
“As discussed elsewhere in this order, Ms. Montgomery has been diagnosed with physical brain disorders and multiple mental illnesses, and three experts believe that, based on the behaviors and symptoms reported to them by counsel, the perception of Ms. Montgomery’s reality is currently warped and corroded, ”Hanlon wrote in his decision.
Montgomery was originally supposed to die by lethal injection on December 8, but in November a federal judge temporarily blocked her execution after her attorneys contracted COVID-19 while visiting her at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.
In 2007, Montgomery was convicted of the murder of 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Missouri. She strangled Stinnett with a rope, cut her open and ran with the baby.