- A federal judge said the Justice Department delayed the execution of Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on death row, the Politico said.
- US District Court Judge Randolph Moss said the DOJ acted illegally in rescheduling Montgomery’s execution.
- Montgomery was initially scheduled to be executed on December 8, but his execution was rescheduled for January 12 after his lawyers captured COVID-19.
- Moss vacated the January 12 date and said the DOJ could not set a new date at this time.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
A federal judge said the Justice Department acted illegally in rescheduling the execution of the only woman on death row, the Politico said.
Lisa Montgomery’s execution was initially scheduled to run this month, but the Bureau of Prisons rescheduled the date for January 12 after her lawyers fell ill with COVID-19 and requested a postponement so they could file a clemency request, she said. the Associated Press.
United States District Court Judge Randolph Moss said the Department of Justice would not be able to execute Montgomery, 52, before the end of the year, and then said he would not be able to order his execution as long as the pandemic was ordered to stay.
“The Court, therefore, concludes that the Director’s order setting a new date of execution while the Court’s suspension was in effect ‘was not in accordance with the law,'” wrote Moss.
Moss vacated the January 12 date, which means that President Donald Trump’s administration may have to reschedule Montgomery’s execution until after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Montgomery was convicted in 2004 for strangling a woman who was eight months pregnant to death, plucking her baby and kidnapping him, CNN reported.
Biden has been a staunch opponent of the death penalty. He promised to abolish the federal death penalty and work to encourage states to abolish his. The Trump administration has been criticized for scheduling executions during Trump’s difficult time.
Earlier this month, Brandon Bernard became the ninth execution carried out by the Federal Bureau of Prisons this year, after a 17-year hiatus. Bernard also represented the first time that an execution was carried out during an imperfect presidential period in 130 years.
So far, the federal government under the Trump administration has executed 10 people in 2020, most of it in a single year since 1896.
More executions are scheduled until Biden takes office, including Dustin John Higgs, whose execution is scheduled for January 15, just five days before Biden’s oath. Higgs would be the last of the five scheduled executions that were scheduled in Trump’s lame period.