REPRIEVE Execution of ‘womb raider’ Lisa Montgomery is delayed as woman who cut baby from pregnant victim fights death penalty

LISA Montgomery – the "womb raider" who cut a baby from her victim's womb – has had her execution delayed as she fights the death penalty.

Montgomery, 52, is currently locked up at the all-female Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas where she remains the only woman on federal death row.

The execution of Lisa Montgomery has been delayed by a federal judge, citing unlawful scheduling problem

But now a federal judge has delayed her execution after ruling that the Justice Department had unlawfully set her execution date while disregarding scheduling rules.

The delay may now potentially force the Trump administration to schedule it to occur after President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the Associated Press reported.

Montgomery had previously been scheduled to be put to death on December 8 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Then her attorneys contracted Covid-19 and U.S. District Court Judge Randolph delayed the execution until after January 1, 2021, to give them enough time to prepare a clemency application.

The Bureau of Prisons then moved her execution to January 12.

Yet the law says death-row inmates must be notified at least 20 days before the execution has been scheduled, according to Justice Department guidelines.

Montgomery is set to become the first female executed by the federal government in 67 years

The execution of Montgomery may now end up delayed until after the inauguration of Joe BidenCredit: AP:Associated Press
Moss has now vacated an order from the director of the Bureau of Prisons that had set the for Jan. 12 execution date, AP reported, because the Bureau of Prisons seemingly did not adhere to the scheduling guidelines.

Since Moss has ordered that the execution cannot be scheduled until at least January. 1 for at least 20 days later, the execution would seemingly not be able to take place until after Biden’s inauguration on January. 20.

Biden press secretary TJ Ducklo previously told the outlet that the president-elect “opposes the death penalty now and in the future.”

In 2004, Montgomery murdered a 23-year-old dog breeder named Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, and cut her baby from her.

Montgomery murdered a 23-year-old dog breeder named Bobbie Jo Stinnett in 2004

The horrific scene was discovered by Stinnett's mom, Becky HarperCredit: Getty Images - Getty

Montgomery, who was 36 at the time, had met Stinnett online and pretended to be a pregnant woman named "Darlene Fischer” to bond with her.

She had researched home births and how to perform cesarean sections online before the attack.

"There was blood everywhere. She was laying on the floor," Stinnett's mom, Becky Harper, tearfully said at Montgomery's trial. "It looked like she exploded all over the place."Lawyers for Montgomery have previously argued their client "suffered repeated sexual and physical abuse since childhood."

The Justice Department resumed federal executions this year after a 17-year hiatus and has put more people to death more people than the last 50 years.

Montgomery is set to become the first female executed by the federal government in 67 years. The last woman to be federally executed was Bonnie Heady, who died in a gas chamber in Missouri in 1953.

                                                                     Originally published onThe SUN