US death penalty: First female federal execution since 1953 set for December

A female federal inmate is set to be executed in the US for the first time in 70 years. According to the Justice Department, Lisa Montgomery will face the death penalty by lethal injection in Indiana on December 8. She was convicted in 2004 for strangling a pregnant woman to death.

The Death Penalty Information Centre records show that the last woman to be executed by the US government was Bonnie Heady, She was sentenced to death via the gas chamber in Missouri in 1953.

In a press release from the Justice Department, it was in December of 2004 when Montgomery had driven from Kansas to Missouri, where she supposedly went to the home of Bobbie Jo Stinnet to purchase a puppy. But as soon as she went inside the residence, Montgomery attacked Stinnett who was at the time eight months pregnant. She strangled Stinnett until she lost consciousness.

"Using a kitchen knife, Montgomery then cut into Stinnett's abdomen, causing her to regain consciousness. A struggle ensued, and Montgomery strangled Stinnett to death. Montgomery then removed the baby from Stinnett's body, took the baby with her, and attempted to pass it off as her own," the press release stated.

Montgomery was found guilty of federal kidnapping resulting in death as the jury unanimously recommended the death sentence. Montgomery's lawyers have fought to prove she did not deserve the death penalty, saying that she had acquired significant brain damage from being beaten as a child and is mentally unwell, the BBC wrote.

In 1972, the death penalty was outlawed by a Supreme Court decision at state and federal level. However, the Supreme Court decided to allow states to reinstate the death penalty in 1976. This paved the way for the government to pass legislation to make the death penalty available again at federal level in 1988. The Trump administration also said it would resume federal executions.

Between 1988 and 2018, 78 people were handed the federal death sentence but only three were executed. Brandon Bernard, who murdered two youth ministers in 1999, is also scheduled for federal execution in December. This makes Montgomery and Bernard the eight and ninth federal inmates to be executed this year.

US Attorney General William Barr said the crimes were "especially heinous murders" and the Department of Justice only seeks the death penalty against the worst criminals.