Scientific imaging demonstrates that Mrs. Montgomery’s brain is damaged structurally and functionally. “Lisa developed a dissociative disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the repeated anal, oral, and vaginal rapes she suffered by the men to whom her mother trafficked her.” And although Lisa told people about her abuse, they “failed to investigate or report.”, A group of 100 organizations and individuals working to combat human trafficking similarly urge the President to take into account Lisa’s history of being trafficked by her own mother, and the impact of the abuses she suffered on her mental health, as “critical context that explains why she committed these acts, which might otherwise seem incomprehensible.”. “Lisa’s Song” is here: https://youtu.be/okWfnh3pDcA, OVER ONE THOUSAND SUPPORTERS CALL ON PRESIDENT TRUMP TO COMMUTE DEATH SENTENCE OF LISA MONTGOMERY, MENTALLY ILL VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING AND HORRIFIC ABUSE SCHEDULED FOR DEC. 8 FED. She was sentenced to death for strangling an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb before passing it off as her own. Lisa Nouri, Amy Harwell and I represented Mrs. Montgomery for eight years. Three years later, in 2007, Montgomery was sentenced to death by a US District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Montgomery was the first of the final three federal inmates scheduled to die before next week's inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden, who is expected to discontinue federal executions. See our Toolkit for more information and suggested posts: https://bit.ly/2XnZBeW. You alone have the power to join the growing chorus to end the stigmatization of mental illness. She was also prostituting Lisa to her male friends. Lisa’s mother Judy was an alcoholic whose drinking caused Lisa to be born with permanent brain damage. Both have since tested positive for the virus and are experiencing debilitating symptoms, including overwhelming fatigue, headaches, chills, sweats, gastro-intestinal distress, inability to focus, and impaired thinking and judgment. Lisa Montgomery Endured Years Of Abuse Before Committing Murder. Ms. Clarke’s appointment to the case was a sea change. Lisa Montgomery, 52, was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, and pronounced dead at 1.31am local time. And they killed her anyway. “But her history provides us with an important explanation that would influence any sentencing recommendation we made as prosecutors.”, The prosecutors stress that Lisa’s history “is not an ‘abuse excuse’ as the jury was told at her trial,” and that evidence of a defendant’s childhood trauma is “critically relevant to determining the appropriate punishment for a serious crime.”. Separately, the US Court of Appeals also voted to stay the execution, delaying any new execution date past Donald Trump's White House departure. Mrs. Montgomery has brain damage, severe mental illness, and suffered a lifetime of sexual torture. (Clemency Petition at p. They discovered that her mental health quickly deteriorated after she learned of her execution date. These international experts join more than 1,000 organizations and individuals—including former prosecutors and organizations that combat domestic violence and child sex trafficking—who have written to President Trump asking him to commute Mrs. Montgomery’s death sentence. Lisa’s mother Judy was an alcoholic whose drinking caused Lisa to be born with permanent brain damage. Women who commit such crimes also are likely to have been victimized themselves. “In the grip of a psychotic break, Lisa killed a pregnant woman and took the baby. (Clemency Petition at p. Lisa recounts how she learned not to cry when the duct tape was on her mouth, because her nose would become stuffed up and she couldn’t breathe. Her crime was horrific, even by death row standards: In December 2004, Montgomery strangled a pregnant woman named Bobbie Jo Stinnett before cutting out and abducting her unborn child. Lisa committed her crime while in the grip of a psychotic episode and even today, she must take a complex cocktail of medications to stave off recurrent psychosis. On the contrary, they are sick because Defendant Barr recklessly scheduled Mrs. Montgomery’s execution in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Lisa felt that Ms. Clarke “truly cared” about her well-being and best interests. Mrs. Montgomery was a victim of severe and repeated sexual violence starting in her childhood, and is now so mentally ill that she requires multiple medications to prevent full-blown psychosis. As a young teenager, she was kept as a sexual slave for her stepfather, who built a special rape room for this purpose. After discovering the video, Lisa’s brother said it was “out of a horror movie.”. Lisa’s father left the family when she was a toddler. During these years, the family moved repeatedly. When Montgomery was 14, her mother discovered the abuse and reacted by threatening her daughter with a gun. A portrait of Lisa drawn by Azul Quetzalli. 24, 35. However, the baby survived the heartless ordeal as the mother passed on. At her trial, prosecutors accused her of faking mental illness, noting that her killing of Ms Stinnett was premeditated and included meticulous planning, including online research on how to perform a caesarean section. Frédéric Autran, Aux Etats-Unis, Lisa Montgomery sans défense ni clémence, Libération, December 23, 2020. (Indianapolis, IN) Attorneys for Lisa Montgomery tonight filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus stating that her January 12, 2021 execution would violate the Eighth Amendment because she is not competent for execution and the Fifth Amendment because she has not been given the opportunity to prove her incompetence. What is happening to them is so terrifying that their mind goes to another place to survive. 2, 22, 23. At that time, the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, and infection rates have now reached an all-time high. (Petition at pp. This failed government adds itself to the long list of people and institutions who failed Lisa. Perversely, he captured his torture of Lisa –and her cries of pain–on video. Mrs. Montgomery’s lawyers were advised that her clemency application was due on November 15, just 30 days after the execution date was set. Letter from three of the nation’s leading advocacy organizations for people with serious mental illness and their families can be accessed here. Lisa Montgomery, 51, learned this week that she will be executed on December 8 for the 2004 murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett and the kidnapping of Ms Stinnett’s baby from the womb. He now says, “I live with regret for not speaking up about what happened to Lisa. “We know from our work with abused children that being unable to escape a cycle of abuse exacts a terrible mental toll,” these child advocates write. They point to the sexual abuse Lisa suffered beginning as a child when her stepfather repeatedly raped her and allowed his friends to gang-rape her, followed by being trafficked by her mother to adult men for sex in her early teens. In 2004, Lisa Montgomery, from Kansas, killed expectant mother Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Missouri before cutting the baby from Stinnett's womb and passing off the newborn as her own. So heartless was Lisa that she cut Stinnett’s fetus from the womb before strangling her to death. Johnson, convicted of killing seven people related to his drug trafficking in Virginia, and Higgs, convicted of ordering the murders of three women in Maryland, both tested positive for COVID-19 last month. These visits involved air travel from Nashville, Tennessee to Fort Worth, Texas as well as the use of rental cars and hotels, and interaction with prison staff in addition to the many travelers and employees they encountered along the way. You alone have the power to send a message to the thousands of women who have been the victim of childhood rape and trafficking that their pain matters – that they matter – that their lives have value. Lisa Montgomery: Killer who strangled mother becomes first woman executed on US death row since 1953 She was sentenced to death for strangling an expectant mother … Lisa gave birth to four children. Her longtime post-conviction attorneys, Assistant Federal Public Defenders Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell, have spent many years building a trusting attorney-client relationship with Mrs. Montgomery and closely monitoring her fragile mental health. She had trouble sleeping and getting out of bed, sobbed profusely, and could not eat. Lisa is a survivor of child abuse, domestic violence, incest, multiple rapes, and child sex trafficking. Owen, however, was unhappy with Clarke’s involvement in Lisa’s defense. She now has multiple mental disorders, including bipolar disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy. Mrs. Montgomery’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, which was filed in the Southern District of Indiana District Court, can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/yy4nqkm4, View the PDF version of the press release here: Lisa Montgomery, Who is Out of Touch with Reality and Has No Rational Understanding of Her Scheduled Execution, is Not Competent to be Executed, Contact: Laura Burstein at laura.burstein@squirepb.com or 202-669-3411, Lisa Montgomery, a Person with Severe Trauma and Mental Illness, and Only Woman on Federal Death Row, Petitions for Clemency. Jack built Lisa a small room onto the side of the trailer, making it easy for him to rape her out of earshot of others. Frédéric Autran, Lisa Montgomery, l’exécution de la honte, Libération, January 13, 2021. Lisa was born into a family ravaged by poverty, violence, addiction, and mental illness. On January 8, 2021, Mrs. Montgomery filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/yy4nqkm4, stating that tonight’s execution would violate the Eighth Amendment because she is not competent for execution and the Fifth Amendment because she has not been given the opportunity to prove her incompetence. Mrs. Montgomery suffers from several mental disorders that frequently cause her to lose touch with reality. Stanley Garnett and Harry Zimmerman, who prosecuted women for crimes similar to Mrs. Montgomery’s, wrote to President Trump: We know from first-hand experience that these crimes are inevitably the product of serious mental illness. The judge ordered that all contact with Ms. Clarke be cut off, and on April 20, 2006, when Ms. Clarke attempted to visit Lisa in jail, she was refused entry. David Greenwald, “Supporters Call on Trump to Commute Death Sentence of Lisa Montgomery,” The Davis Vanguard, November 11, 2020. Judy ultimately married six times, and had multiple partners throughout Lisa’s childhood. The letters from over 1000 organizations and advocates can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/y6kethld. In addition to brain damage, Mrs. Montgomery has been diagnosed with epilepsy, bipolar disorder, and complex posttraumatic stress disorder after a lifetime of sexual torture. Her violence and cruelty toward Lisa and the other children knew no bounds. The lawsuit explains that the Trump Administration has rejected the attorneys’ request for a reprieve due to their illness and asks the court to prevent Mrs. Montgomery from being executed until they can effectively prepare and submit her clemency application. The lawsuit also explained that the pandemic affects more than counsel, because the experts familiar with Mrs. Montgomery’s mental health history cannot travel to assess her current condition and thus cannot assist in the clemency process. At the time, she had told her new husband she was pregnant—which her former husband knew was untrue because she had been sterilized against her will. The only woman on federal death row was set to be executed by lethal injection on Jan. 12, but Lisa Montgomery, 52, got a brief reprieve when, on Christmas Eve, a … As a result, Lisa has trouble processing information and navigating social relationships.
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