Wannabe Mother of the Year.

Judge imposes death penalty
Melvern resident sentenced in brutal slaying of pregnant woman
By Steve Fry
The Capital-Journal
Published Saturday, April 05, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lisa Montgomery, the Melvern, Kan., resident who horrified the public when she strangled a pregnant woman and then cut out her baby, was formally sentenced to death Friday.

Montgomery declined to say anything in the moments before a federal judge pronounced the sentence.
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Lisa Montgomery remained silent as she was sentenced in federal court Friday.

IMPRISONMENT AND EXECUTION

Pending appeal, Lisa Montgomery will be housed at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, which provides medical and mental health services to female offenders.

If she is executed, she would be transferred to the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. Lethal injection is the method of capital punishment done there.

The last federal inmate to be executed was Louis Jones on March 18, 2003. Jones, an Army veteran, was sentenced in 1995 for kidnapping, raping and killing Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride, 19.

The last federal execution of a woman was Bonnie Brown Heady in December 1953, who was convicted in the kidnapping for ransom in Kansas City, Mo., of Bobby Greenlease, 6, who was murdered soon after the abduction in September 1953.

During a hearing that lasted only 11 minutes, U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner told Montgomery it was his judgment she should be "sentenced to death."

Montgomery, whose face was obscured by her long, curled hair, didn't react to the death penalty sentence.

Fenner said Montgomery couldn't be executed within 61 days of the sentence or more than 90 days after the sentence, but quickly added an appeal of her conviction would put her execution on hold.

Outside the courtroom, Fred Duchardt, Montgomery's lead defense attorney, said he would file a notice of appeal later Friday. Duchardt said it likely would take at least a year before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis rules on the matter. Duchardt will handle Montgomery's appeal.

Three deputy marshals, including one who stood about two steps behind Montgomery, guarded her in the courtroom. After the sentencing, Montgomery, who wore handcuffs, leg irons and bright orange prison coveralls, was quickly escorted from the courtroom.

Montgomery, 40, was convicted Oct. 22 of a kidnapping resulting in death when she drove to the Skidmore, Mo., home of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, an expectant mother, strangled her with rope, used a kitchen knife to cut out the victim's baby, and then kidnapped the child and drove back to the Montgomery home in Melvern. Montgomery told her family she had given birth to the child in Topeka and told Melvern residents the child was hers.

"I think she's dealing with it," Carl Boman, Montgomery's first husband, said of Montgomery's reaction to the death penalty.

Boman said Montgomery's children, who also are his children, are pinning their hopes on a favorable ruling in her appeal.

"They don't want to have their mom executed," he said.

Carl Boman II, 18, and Chelsea Boman Veal, 19, sat with their father during the sentencing. The Bomans live in Oklahoma.

The defendant's current husband, Kevin Montgomery, and his parents, Roger and Joy Montgomery, declined to comment.

Stinnett's mother, Becky Harper, the victim's brother, Tyler Harper, an uncle, a cousin and an aunt also witnessed the sentencing but declined to comment.

Outside the courtroom, Duchardt was asked for his reaction.

"I'm sad that we were not able to convince the jury of what a sweet individual, a loving person, Lisa is," Duchardt said.

After he files the notice of appeal, Duchardt said he would await the receipt of the "voluminous" transcript of testimony during the four-week trial before he filed the actual appeal.

Duchardt said Montgomery's appeal would be based on 20 points, including defense assertions Fenner incorrectly ruled jurors couldn't hear testimony from a defense witness that Montgomery suffered brain abnormalities, as well as pseudocyesis (a false belief she was pregnant), post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression.

"Our talking now is going to be in the court of appeals," Duchardt said.

In a statement, John F. Wood, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said he hoped the sentence would "bring some measure of closure to the family of Bobbie Jo Stinnett. Seeking the ultimate penalty is not something we take lightly, but this outcome serves the cause of justice and honors the memory of Bobbie Jo Stinnett."

SOURCE

The highlighted part is my choice for legal commentary of the year.