Daily US Times: The United States Justice Department has said it is to execute a female federal inmate named Lisa Montgomery. The execution is going to be for the first time in almost 70 years.
The inmate strangled a pregnant woman in Missouri before cutting out and kidnapping the baby in 2004.
She is due to be given a lethal injection in Indiana state on 8 December.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the last woman to be executed by the US government was Bonnie Heady, who died in a gas chamber in Missouri in 1953.
The federal execution of Brandon Bernard, who with his accomplices murdered two youth ministers in 1999, has also been scheduled for December.
William Barr, the US Attorney General, said the crimes were “especially heinous murders”.
The Trump administration said last year it would resume federal executions.
Montgomery drove from Kansas to the home of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, in Missouri, in December 2004, purportedly to purchase a puppy.
“Once inside the residence, Montgomery attacked and strangled Stinnett – who was eight months pregnant – until the victim lost consciousness,” according to a Department of Justice press release.
The press release says Montgomery then cut into Stinnett’s abdomen using a kitchen knife, causing her to regain consciousness. A struggle ensued, and she 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.”
In 2007, a jury found Montgomery guilty of federal kidnapping resulting in death, and unanimously recommended a death sentence.
You may read: Some Republicans voice concerns over Trump