STORY: Judge cancels woman's federal execution date," the Crime Report reports, on December 25, 2020.
GIST: "A federal judge ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully rescheduled the execution of the only woman on federal death row. The decision may force the Trump administration to schedule the execution for after president-elect Joe Biden takes office, the Associated Press reports.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss vacated an order from the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) setting Lisa Montgomery’s execution date for Jan. 12. Montgomery had been scheduled to be put to death at the Terre Haute, In., federal prison this month, but Moss delayed the execution after her attorneys contracted coronavirus visiting her and asked for a time extension to file a clemency petition.
Moss barred the execution in 2020, and officials rescheduled it for Jan. 12. Moss ruled that the agency was prohibited from rescheduling the date while a stay was in place. BOP cannot reschedule the execution until at least Jan. 1. Generally, a death-row inmate must be notified at least 20 days before the execution. If the Justice Department chooses to reschedule the date in January, it could mean that the execution would be scheduled after Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
Montgomery was convicted of killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, in the northwest Missouri town of Skidmore in 2004. She used a rope to strangle Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, and then a kitchen knife to cut the baby girl from the womb, authorities said. Two other federal inmates are scheduled to be executed in January but have tested positive for coronavirus. Their attorneys are seeking delays of their executions."
The entire story can be read at:
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/12/25/judge-cancels-womans-federal-execution-date/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog; -----------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD (FOR NOW!): "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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