Woman sentenced in death of mother-to-be
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - April 4, 2008 Lisa Montgomery becomes the third woman on federal death row.
She was convicted in October of kidnapping resulting in death in
the Dec. 16, 2004, killing of Bobbie Jo Stinnett. Montgomery was
arrested at her farmhouse a day after showing off Stinnett's baby
as her own.
"I hope that today's sentence will bring some measure of
closure to the family of Bobbie Jo Stinnett," U.S. Attorney John
Wood said in a statement. "Seeking the ultimate penalty is not
something we take lightly, but this outcome serves the cause of
justice and honors the memory of Bobbie Jo Stinnett."
Prosecutors presented evidence during the trial that Montgomery
strangled Stinnett with a rope, then used a kitchen knife to cut
her daughter from the womb. Stinnett was eight months pregnant at
the time.
The jury rejected claims from Montgomery's attorney, Fred
Duchardt, that she should be spared the death penalty because
sexual abuse during her childhood led to mental illness. Duchardt
plans to appeal.
"The thing that happened here is horrible and we can't say
anything differently about that and wouldn't even try, but what
we've tried to express to everybody who would listen is just the
sweet person she is," Duchardt said.
Montgomery's husband, Kevin, and Stinnett's mother, Becky
Harper, attended the hearing with other family members, but neither
spoke with reporters after leaving the courtroom.
Montgomery declined U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner's offer
to speak before her sentencing and sat quietly as the judge imposed
the sentence.
Before sentencing, Duchardt asked Fenner to include information
about Montgomery's abuse and medical treatment in documents sent to
the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Department of Justice spokesman Don Ledford said Montgomery will
likely be sent to the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort
Worth, Texas, a women's correctional facility that has medical
services for inmates.
Duchardt said Montgomery takes medication that has "done
wonders."
Montgomery is just the third woman to be sentenced to federal
death row since 1972, when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to an
overhaul of death-penalty statues across the country. Since 1927,
only two women have been executed under the federal system, both in
1953.
Ethel Rosenberg was the first, sent to the electric chair after
her and husband Julius were convicted of conspiracy to commit
espionage for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Bonnie Heady was sent to the gas chamber with her lover Carl
Hall for the kidnapping and murder of a 6-year-old boy in Kansas
City.
Mary Surratt was hanged by the U.S. government in 1865 for her
involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln.