U.S. Executes Lisa Montgomery for 2004 Murder
She was the first woman to be put to death by the federal government since 1953 and had been the only woman on federal death row.
Lisa M. Montgomery, 52, was the only woman on federal death row.Credit.Attorneys for Lisa Montgomery, via Associated Press
Jan. 13, 2021
WASHINGTON The Trump administration early Wednesday morning executed Lisa M. Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, whose death marked the first federal execution of a woman in nearly 70 years.
Ms. Montgomery, 52, was sentenced to death for murdering a pregnant woman in 2004 and abducting the unborn child, whom she claimed as her own. In pleas to spare her life, Ms. Montgomery’s supporters argued that a history of trauma and sexual abuse that marred her life contributed to the circumstances that led to the crime. Her case, unusual in part because so few women are sentenced to death, ignited debate over the role of offenders’ past trauma in criminal sentenc
Lisa Montgomery becomes first woman executed by feds in 67 years Elizabeth DePompei, Johnny Magdaleno and Justin L. Mack, Indianapolis Star
Lisa Montgomery execution: What we know about her death penalty case
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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – After a flurry of last-minute court orders, hours of uncertainty and one final plea to reconsider her competency, Lisa Montgomery became the first woman executed by the federal government in 67 years early Wednesday.
Montgomery, 52, was executed by lethal injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute. Her time of death was 1:31 a.m., 7½ after her originally scheduled time of execution, according to The Associated Press.
Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, could still be executed Tuesday night despite multiple down-to-the-wire court rulings in her favor. Montgomery, 52, got the death penalty in 2008 for killing a pregnant woman four years earlier and stealing her fetus. The baby survived. Three federal courts have ordered a stay of Montgomery’s execution, but two of those rulings were .