Lisa Montgomery's Execution: the Failure of the Justice System by Claire Xue

Lisa Montgomery's Execution: the Failure of the Justice System

There have been no federal executions in my lifetime. Since last July, there have been thirteen.

There was a pause in federal executions for seventeen years before the Trump administration resumed them. Prior to the recent rushed string of executions, the last death sentence had been carried out on March 18th, 2003. The first that had broken the long hiatus was carried out on July 14th, 2020. The final execution of the thirteen was only a week ago.

From the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1988 to 2003, in that fifteen year period, only three federal inmates were executed. Dustin Higgs was killed a week ago, following Cory Johnson’s execution two days prior. Just one day before that, it was Lisa Montgomery. This happened all within four days just last week.

Lisa Montgomery

Content Warning: sexual abuse and violence

Lisa Montgomery

The actual stories of these inmates and the ridiculous hurry for their executions are telling of the failure of our justice system. Lisa Montgomery’s story in particular horrified me the more I learned about it. From childhood, her mother Judy and the male figures in her life tortured her mentally and physically.

Her mother, like many others in the family, objectified the lives of their relatives. As a child, Lisa’s mother threatened her with abandonment, and as an adult, Judy would abduct and hide Lisa’s own children from her. She was a victim and witness to her mother’s abuse, Judy would hit Lisa and her siblings and beat them with objects. She would also encourage their step-father Jack as he did the same, even ordering the siblings to beat each other too. Even worse, Lisa’s step-father “raped and controlled her sexually from early to mid-adolescence” as put by Katherine Porterfield, a psychologist with experience in cases of maltreatment and torture. Lisa’s two husbands were no different, her first even saying she “had done things for Jack and she should do it for him.” Lisa was humiliated and degraded, told she was worthless, blamed for her abuse and the family’s misfortunes.

The physical abuse Lisa endured left her with traumatic brain injury shown in MRI scans. The scans are also indicative of neurodevelopmental disorder and poor prenatal conditions as observed by Dr. Ruben Gur who specializes in psychiatry and neurology. Dr. Gur also wrote in his report that the disorder’s effects may have been worsened by Lisa’s PTSD from the years of abuse. After being incarcerated, Lisa was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Depression (among many other mental illnesses) and was on several medications. Lisa was mentally ill. Porterfield evaluated that Lisa had complex post-traumatic stress and severe dissociative symptoms as well.

The Crime

On December 16th, 2004, Lisa traveled from Kansas to Missouri where she met with eight-month pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett. Inside her home, she strangled the woman to death before cutting out her baby. She tried passing the baby off as her own before she was caught the next day. The baby was safely returned to the father.

The crime Lisa Montgomery committed was horrible, yes, and she does need to face punishment. But, as Porterfield had concluded from her evaluation, Lisa “grew into adulthood with a disconnected sense of her emotions, a tenuous hold on reality, a completely warped view of human relationships, and a split and damaged sense of herself and of her body.” How can it be justified to kill someone who is mentally ill and not in the right state of mind? Regardless of the truth, the justice system continued to fail her as her execution was carried out even after a series of appeals.

Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, the location of Lisa's execution

The Need for Change

Lisa Montgomery did not deserve to die. And of the over 2,500 others still on death row, there are bound to be more cases like hers: people convicted unjustly, sentences delivered without the whole truth. Our justice system can decide whether someone lives or dies, this is not a light punishment, and too often we get it wrong. One person is exonerated for every nine who are executed, innocent people have been executed. The death penalty is flawed, it is cruel and unfair, and it is curious that the United States of America continues to hold onto it.

Lisa’s execution along with Dustin Higgs’s and Cory Johnson’s came the week before President Joe Biden was sworn into office. Biden who has made the promise to abolish the federal death penalty. The inauguration was three days ago and President Biden has certainly made progress on his list of promises, but we must still hold him to his word. We were unable to save Lisa, but there are still thousands of people on death row, and we have to work to save all of them.

Congressman Dick Durbin of Illinois and congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts have announced the reintroduction of the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act of 2021 that will end the federal death penalty. We have to contact our elected officials and ask for them to support this legislation, we have to continue to educate ourselves, follow and support organizations working towards the end of the death penalty, learn of the other cases of those on death row in this nation. We must do what we can to make sure that this inhumane punishment claims no more lives.

Helpful Websites & Groups to Support:

The Next to Die by The Marshall Project themarshallproject.org/next-to-die

American Civil Liberties Union aclu.org

Equal Justice Initiative eji.org

Death Penalty Information Center deathpenaltyinfo.org

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty ncadp.org

Sources:

Death Penalty Information Center

The Guardian

Katherine Porterfield's Evaluation

Ruben Gur's Report

Equal Justice Initiative

Dick Durbin's Press Release