Lisa Montgomery, who was executed in 2021, remains one of the most debated figures in modern U.S. criminal history. She was sentenced to death in 2007, three years after committing the murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a young woman who was eight months pregnant. Montgomery attacked Stinnett, removed the unborn baby, and attempted to pass the newborn off as her own child. The infant was later found safe and returned to her family, where she was raised by her father.
Montgomery’s crime shocked the nation, leading to her conviction for murder and kidnapping and a death sentence. Her legal team argued throughout the years that she suffered from severe mental illness, citing a history of brain damage and trauma. They contended that her mental state made her incapable of understanding her punishment, a factor that should have rendered her ineligible for execution under federal law.
In January 2021, just one day before her scheduled execution, Judge James Hanlon temporarily halted the process to assess Montgomery’s mental competency. He wrote that her grasp on reality was so fractured that she could not rationally understand the reason for her execution. However, this stay was quickly overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for her sentence to proceed.
Montgomery was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, on January 13, 2021, at the age of 52. When asked for any final words, she simply replied, “no.”
Following her death, her attorney, Kelley Henry, condemned the execution as an act of cruelty, stating that the government had “stopped at nothing” to kill a woman suffering from severe psychological damage. The case reignited national conversations about mental health, gender, and the ethics of capital punishment.
Montgomery’s execution was the first of a woman in the United States since 1953, and discussions surrounding her case continue to shape debates over justice and compassion in the death penalty system.