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Just got off the phone with one of Lisa Montgomery’s attorneys.
She is bracing for a long day of legal proceedings.
Lisa is already at Terre Haute and the prison is in execution-day protocol mode already.
“They're gonna try and do it,” Kelley Henry told me.
She is bracing for a long day of legal proceedings.
Lisa is already at Terre Haute and the prison is in execution-day protocol mode already.
“They're gonna try and do it,” Kelley Henry told me.
My story with interview with Kelley Henry (who, by the way, is recovering from COVID-19 which she contracted working on Lisa’s case) https://bit.ly/3nCyE1F
The govt has filed a motion asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit to lift the stay, arguing that there's no compelling evidence that Montgomery is too mentally ill to execute.
Their main argument is that Montgomery hasn't been evaluated recently and so reports about her mental health from experts who examined her in the past aren’t an accurate representation of her health now.
Montgomery’s lawyers report that she is psychotic, out of touch with reality and is having auditory hallucinations. Govt says they can’t be trusted to report her symptoms accurately.
The reason why mental health experts haven’t evaluated Montgomery recently is due to COVID-19. Both her lead attorneys got COVID visiting her in prison, they did not want to ask their experts to risk doing the same.
I want to add a little context around Lisa’s crime, which she confessed to and has expressed remorse for.
It was a horrific, devastating crime. She killed a pregnant woman and cut out the fetus, taking the child as her own.
It was a horrific, devastating crime. She killed a pregnant woman and cut out the fetus, taking the child as her own.
Fetal abduction, as it is called, is extremely rare. But when it does happen, it is very often a product of severe mental illness. It is perpetrated almost exclusively by women with documented mental health conditions.
Like Lisa.
Like Lisa.
While there have been a little over a dozen cases like Lisa’s in the past 35 years, she is the only woman facing the death penalty for such an act.
Usually, prosecutors & judges recognize the mental health issues at play and decide that death is not an appropriate punishment.
Usually, prosecutors & judges recognize the mental health issues at play and decide that death is not an appropriate punishment.
Lisa is mentally ill. Since her arrest, she has been medicated and given psychiatric treatment. She is held in a prison for women with special mental health needs. She’s diagnosed with
bipolar disorder with psychotic features and complex PTSD.
bipolar disorder with psychotic features and complex PTSD.
She grew up in a home marked with domestic violence, neglect, incest and rape. She learned to dissociate to survive, according to mental health experts who have evaluated her.
I’m sounding like a broken record, but if you’re interested in learning more: https://bit.ly/2JVygxh
I’m sounding like a broken record, but if you’re interested in learning more: https://bit.ly/2JVygxh
