In December 2004 Lisa Montgomery strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett (8 months into her pregnancy), and cut her unborn child from her stomach with a kitchen knife.
Lisa Montgomery is scheduled to be executed on January 12, 2021, if the execution moves forward Lisa will be the first woman executed on federal death row in nearly 70 years. Her execution originally was scheduled for December 8, 2020, however it was postponed due to her lawyers contracting Covid-19.
My question is, is she a murderer or a victim of severe abuse that the system is failing yet again. Is she another victim of Trump’s administration on a killing spree? There are many aspects of Lisa’s case that show she shouldn’t receive the death penalty as well as aspects that she should. I will let you decide.
How they met
According to the court documents provided in this case, Lisa and Bobbie Jo met at a dog show in April 2004. Both women were involved in the breeding of rat terriers and were acquainted through online message boards as they share a mutual interest in rat terriers.
In early spring 2004, Lisa began telling her friends, family, and online community that she was pregnant despite undergoing a tubal fulguration in 1990. This is where Lisa and Bobbie Jo connected since Bobbie Jo was pregnant with her first child. Lisa had told her husband (Kevin) that she was pregnant, and even starting wearing maternity clothes and acting pregnant. Kevin was unaware of the 1990 surgery, as she hadn’t met Kevin yet.
Using the alias Darlene Fischer, Lisa contacted Bobbie Jo on December 15, 2004, on a chat forum inquiring about puppies that she had available. They had set to meet the next evening to view the puppies available at Bobbie Jo’s home.
I have always been curious to know if Lisa knew Bobbie Jo was home alone or if it just happened to work out that way? Did she plan to kill her or did she see the opportunity when she arrived at her home.
The crime
The night of December 16, 2004, Lisa arrived at Bobbie Jo’s residence. After entering Bobbie Jo’s home, it is believed that Lisa strangled Bobbie Jo with a telephone cord causing her to become unconscious. She then used a kitchen knife to cut into Bobbie Jo’s abdomen, causing Bobbie Jo to regain consciousness. After a short struggle, Lisa strangled Bobbie Jo a second time, ultimately killing her. Lisa then cut the baby from Bobbie Jo’s body, cut the umbilical cord, and left with the baby in her car.
Lisa stopped a few blocks down the road and cleaned up the baby. After cleaning the baby with wipes, Lisa grabbed the car seat she had hidden in her trunk of her car and placed the baby in the seat. She would then call her husband to tell him that she had gone into labor and gave birth at a women’s clinic, she asked him to meet her there to take her home.
Kevin and Lisa returned home that night with the baby. Kevin had had no idea the baby was not his. Lisa had told her then husband, that she was pregnant and when she presented him with a baby, he truly believed it was their baby.
Bobbie Jo’s mother tried to call her later that evening, when she didn’t answer she drove to her house and find her in a puddle of blood. She called the police and said “it looked like my daughter’s stomach has exploded”.
Lisa’s childhood
Lisa was sexually abused over a period of years by her stepfather, with abuse starting as early as 8 years old. He went as far as building a room on their trailer so him and his friends could go in the room and rape her without anyone noticing or disturbing them. Lisa would undergo mental, physical and sexual abuse for years, her mother too was aware. Her own mother sex trafficked Lisa to collect money on at least two occasions.
Lisa’s step-sister testified in support of Montgomery’s motion to vacate the death sentence: “As the oldest, I was the protector of Lisa and our baby sister. When Judy, Lisa’s mother and my stepmother, came to beat us, I stood between her and the younger girls and took the beating, whether it was belts, cords or hangers. We lived in a house of horrors. Judy was an alcoholic with mental illness who married six times over the course of her life. There were always different men around the house. When I was around eight years old, and Lisa was about four, one of Judy’s male friends began coming into our room at night and regularly raping me, with Lisa in the next bed — close enough we could reach for each other and touch fingers”.
Lisa’s sister too was a victim of this abuse but was removed from the home when she was 8.
At 18, Judy pressured Lisa to marry her stepbrother. He would continue the cycle of abuse, rapes and beatings, which he sadistically videotaped.
Trial and Aftermath
The prosecution’s expert, Dr. Dietz ultimately testified that “It’s my opinion, with reasonable medical certainty, that at the time of the charged offenses the defendant did not suffer from any mental disease or defect, that affected her ability to appreciate the nature and quality of wrongfulness of her acts. It is my opinion with reasonable medical certainty that the defendant was entirely capable of appreciating that she was engaged in a lengthy and elaborate plan designed to kill Bobbie Jo Stinnett at a stage of advanced pregnancy, to successfully conduct a Cesarean section on her first attempt and to kidnap a healthy infant she could present to the world as her own”.
Ultimately, Bobbie Jo’s death was determined to be premeditated.
Experts who examined Lisa after her conviction concluded that by the time of her crime she had long been living with psychosis, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorders. She was said to be often disassociated from reality and to have permanent brain damage from numerous beatings at the hands of her parents and spouses.
. . .
Lisa’s half-sister Diane Mattingly is fighting for her sister’s life. She has said her sister shouldn’t die because of her mental illness, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. Diane said her sister is now on the right medications and Lisa realizes the depth of what has happened and has great remorse.
“I just don’t feel like putting her to death is justice”.
Lisa is the only woman on federal death row, and one of only 51 women on death row across the country. Lisa would be the first women to be executed in 70 years.
Her only chance at clemency resides entirely with President Trump, who as I wrote about previously, has an administration that is pushing forward with six people to be executed during his final months in office.
Is this another case of mental illness being overlooked? After reading the entire 37-page document provided by the courts I have my own opinion. I linked them below if you’re as interested in this case as I am.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
Sources:
https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/11/04/081780P.pdf https://www.newsweek.com/lisa-montgomery-life-sentence-death-row-abuse-1548750
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This post was previously published on Equality Includes You.
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Photo credit: Attorneys for Lisa Montgomery / Reuters
