Death row inmate seeks to block her transfer to male prison for execution

Transfer would result in ‘catastrophic psychiatric breakdown,’ say lawyers

Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be executed at Terre Haute’s federal correction facility in January (Associated Press)

A woman death row inmate whose lawyers say she has suffered repeated sexual and physical abuse since childhood is asking not to be moved to an all-male prison for her execution.

Texas prisoner Lisa Montgomery is set to become the first female executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years for the 2004 murder of a pregnant woman.

Montgomery, 52, is currently imprisoned at the all-female Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where her lawyers say she would rather be executed.

The jail, however, does not carry out executions. Montgomery will be transferred to an all-male federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana for lethal injection on 12 January.

The Terre Haute prison is mostly staffed by men, Montgomery's lawyers say, and argue that moving her there would trigger a "catastrophic psychiatric breakdown".

In 2004, Montgomery murdered 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant at the time.

Montgomery, then aged 36, strangled Stinnett with a cable at her Skidmore, Missouri home in a murder detectives said was planned for months.

She used a knife to cut the unborn baby from her victim's womb. The infant survived, was recovered by authorities, and later returned to her father.

The child, Victoria Jo Stinnett, is now 16 years old.

Montgomery was found guilty of kidnapping resulting in death and sentenced to death at her 2007 trial.

Her lawyers last month filed a lawsuit against attorney general William Barr and other prison officials for pressing ahead with transfer and execution of Montgomery, which was originally set to take place on 8 December.

Attorneys for Montgomery had the date pushed back because they say they contracted coronavirus while working on her case.

Washington DC attorney Robin Nunn wrote in the lawsuit that his client had suffered repeated sexual and physical abuse and neglect since childhood.

Montgomery was raised in an abusive home, Mr Nunn said, where she was raped by her stepfather for years and sex trafficked.

She was beaten and urinated on by those who assaulted her, Mr Nunn added. Montgomery's mother, Mr Nunn said, threatened her with a gun when she revealed the abuse.

After getting married to escape her home aged 18, Montgomery suffered further abuse at the hands of her husband and second husband.

Montgomery, who attempted suicide on several occasions between 2010 and 12, becomes distressed in the presence of men, particularly strangers, Mr Nunn wrote in the lawsuit.

Transferring Montgomery, who also has brain damage, to an all-male prison for execution without considering her sex or mental health issues violates federal law, Mr Nunn added.

Federal lawyers disagreed. Johnny Walker and Alan Simpson, attorneys for the government, said Montgomery will only be moved to Terre Haute one or two days before the execution.

She will be housed alone in a separate building where executions are performed, they added.

In coming to their decision, the attorneys argued that Montgomery is "not entitled to micromanage the conditions of her confinement for her own comfort and convenience.'  

It comes as the outgoing Trump administration ratchets up the pace of federal executions despite a surge of coronavirus cases in prisons, announcing plans for five starting Thursday and concluding just days before the 20 January inauguration of the president-elect, Joe Biden.

If the five go off as planned, it will make 13 executions since July when the Republican administration resumed putting inmates to death after a 17-year hiatus and will cement president Trump’s legacy as the most prolific execution president in over 130 years.