Shaughnessy drank excessively during her pregnancy, causing brain damage to Montgomery, according to court records. Mattingly said she saw terror in her half-sister's bright green eyes. Mattingly believes that by living with loving adults who nurtured her, she was able to process the trauma of her childhood and become a well-adjusted adult. As Strongand other investigators were about to pull into the driveway of Montgomery's house, he said, he learned via a phone callthat the last email Stinnett received had come from that home. After playing with the dogs in the backyard that day, Montgomery strangled Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, who was pregnant, and cut open her abdomen to remove her 8-month-old fetus. There are certain crimes that are universally abhorred by the public, ones that evoke a primal response of disgust and revenge from those who hear about it. When Mattingly attendedMontgomery's sentencing hearing in 2007, which was the first time she had seen her sister in about 35 years, she said Montgomery's face bore the same look of fear it had when they were separated. "She is the most broken of the broken," Mattingly said. Montgomery was sentenced for the murder of a 23-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant. Strong said he and Fritz questioned Montgomery using a"good cop/bad cop" approach. Montgomery also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and major depression, jurors were told. "But one of the things that the president can do is say - to women who have been trafficked, and who have been sexually abused - 'Your abuse matters'.". At the time, Lisa had told her new husband that she was pregnant, which her former husband knew wasn't possible because of the forced sterilization. She describes Montgomery's ex-husband as cruel and harassing. Montgomery's lawyers want her sentence commuted to a life sentence, which would allow her to remain under psychiatric care in prison for the rest of her days. Lisa's and my father was also mentally ill. Montgomery clearly should spend the rest of her life in prison, but she is not among the "worst of the worst" for whom the death penalty is intended, Mattingly told The Topeka Capital-Journal. Judy Shaughnessy, Montgomery ' s mother, raised Lisa in poverty and chaos, with multiple stepfathers and in dozens of different homes, according to scores of interviews and documents cited. Kleiner told a reporter in 2005 that Shaughnessy's allegation was made up to support her divorce case and he was never found guilty of anything. Fourteen of those offenders are serving long prison sentences, while the twoothers died by suicide in custody, according to a list Henry provided. While my path to healing was very hard, the difference between Lisa and me is that no one ever intervened to rescue Lisa from a lifetime of abuse. Residents there tend to think her execution would bring an appropriate end to a painful chapter in their city's history, he said. Bobbie's family deserves her," says Meagan Morrow, a high school classmate of Stinnett's. Left: "Melvern Pride" is the focus of this sign standing at the city limits of Melvern, the community in east-central Kansas where Lisa Montgomery lived. "It was violent and like a scene out of a horror movie," he said in a statement. He also noted that after she confessed to killing Stinnett, she changed her story to contend the murder was committed by her half-brotherTommy Kleiner. Kevin Montgomery let investigators inside. In fact, he drove her back home and dropped her off in the hands of her abusers. As her big sister, Diane feels immense guilt about leaving Montgomery behind in that broken home, so many years ago. At least five of the 12 jurors and three alternate jurorswiped away tears. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The nature and circumstances of Montgomerys crime show she had lost touch with reality, says her half-sister, Diane Mattingly. A social worker found Lisa's allegations of abuse credible and turned the file. You know, like, that doesn't happen to Bobbie," Morrow says. And that would be from across a courtroom, where lawyers for the US government were trying to persuade a jury to sentence Montgomery to death. Montgomery and Carl Boman divorced, remarried and divorced again in 1998. According to sworn statements from her family, her mental health declined rapidly after that. Three federal inmates - Orlando Hall, Alfred Bourgeois and Brandon Bernard - have been put to death since the 3 November presidential election. Another case with Missouri ties. Shaughnessy's nephew, David Kidwell, testified that she believed Montgomery "had brought [the abuse] on herself, that she enticed him". Theyre saying that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole is more than sufficient punishment for someone who has endured what she did.. Randy Strong, who investigated the case,is unhappy that some people are asking thatMontgomerys life be spared. She lives near Kansas City, Mo. Montgomery eventually divorced her first husband and married Kevin Montgomery. Lisa Montgomery and her half-sister Diane Mattingly as children, Judy Shaughnessy, Lisa Montgomery's mother, Bobbie Jo Stinnett's home lies empty today, Protest against federal executions of death row inmates - outside the US Justice Department, Washington DC, December 2020. As Strong crossed the threshold, hesaw a TV set airing an Amber Alert about the abduction of Stinnett's baby. The infant found later that day to weigh 5 pounds, 11 ounces was "very still" and didn't cry, which concerned Strong. She lapsed increasingly into mental illness and repeatedly faked pregnancy. That could change in Terre Haute. Montgomery's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, who was 20 at the time of her birth in 1968, drank heavily while pregnant with her daughter. And it's never about what my friend went through," she adds. Often, theyd physically fight, and Mattingly would try to protect Montgomery from the chaos. The girls father was often away from the house for long periods, and Shaughnessy would have other men over. The cold, vicious, calculating and brutal nature of her crimes shows that Montgomery knew exactly what she was doing, Strong said. In a letterin late November written with a black crayon, Montgomery told Dorr that other inmates at Carswell took it "really hard" when her execution date was set. It turns out that it only takes a few people to save a child's life: being loved by my foster parents saved mine. She had this ability to find what hurt you the most and use that against you, Mattingly said. Montgomerys mother, Judy Shaughnessy, who was 20 at the time of her birth in 1968, drank heavily while pregnant with her daughter. Babies born naturally tend to have misshapen heads initially because of the pressure experienced as they go through the birth canal, he said. They were also physically violent. When I was around eight years old, and Lisa was about four, one of Judy's male friends began coming into our room at night and regularly raping me, with Lisa in the next bedclose enough we could reach for each other and touch fingers. They gave me unconditional love, they taught me my self-worth, she said. Ramachandran said Montgomery told him she didn't remember killing Stinnett or cutting the baby out of her body. Judy Shaughnessy had already raised two convicted felons at the time. If Mattinglycould speak directly to Trump, she said, she would tell him: "Please dont take my sister. Lisa Montgomery - the only female inmate on federal death row in the US - has been executed for murder in the state of Indiana. At one point, one of Montgomery's brothers found a home movie that showed Montgomery's husband raping and beating her. When Judy, Lisa's mother and my stepmother, came to beat us, I stood between her and the younger girls and took the beating, whether it was belts, cords or hangers. After previously being allowed contact with a limited number of inmates, Montgomery was moved to a solitary confinement cell at Carswell and kept there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Henry said. She lives in Lebanon, Ky., is married with two adult children and has worked the past 19 years for the state of Kentucky. Stinnett's husband was at work, andStinnett was on the phone with her mother, Becky Harper, when Montgomery's dirty red Toyota pulled upon the afternoon of Dec. 16. Her children were disturbed by it. But they were what we come to understand as neuro-physiological adaptations to survive being constantly under assault.. There is a decision that has to be made, separate from guilt, about whether someones behavior is so morally reprehensible that they deserve the death penalty, she said. "There's so many people that failed her throughout her whole life. "Come on, baby. Why the fate of the only woman on federal death row hinges on these Tennessee attorneys and their health, Lisa Montgomery's execution, delayed by attorneys' COVID-19 cases, rescheduled for Jan. 12, Only woman on federal death row asks President Trump to be a 'hero,' commute her sentence, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He continued the cycle of abuse, rapes and beatings, which he sadistically videotaped. Her lawyers had argued she was a mentally ill victim of abuse who. These days, she requires a regimen of psychotropic drugs to function. On her way out the door, Mattingly said, Shaughnessy leaned over and told her it was all her fault she was being taken away. Stitched together, they form a tapestry of family dysfunction, abuse, neglect, professional negligence, substance abuse and untreated mental illness. It was a terrifying household, she says, where physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of Judy Shaughnessy, Montgomery's mother, and her boyfriends was routine. He recalled that Montgomery begged him not to tell anyone, for fear that Kleiner would kill her. If you or someone you know needs support for issues about emotional distress, these organisations may be able to help. My sister is on death row, Kleiner wrote in the lawsuit petition. The divorce left Shaughnessy no longer entitled to be Mattingly's legal guardian. Jack also raped Lisa for years. She was broken by people who were supposed to be her caregivers. Judy later married a man named Jack who punched, kicked and choked his children, including Lisa. The six-man, six-woman jury in October 2007 found Montgomery guilty and recommended she be executed. Montgomery has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping resulting in death. Shaughnessy would beat Mattingly with whatever was in her hand, be it a belt or a broom, she said. Often the woman, now 52 and a grandmother of 12, is knitting or doing needlepoint. We lived in a house of horrors. . Both became infected with COVID-19, believing it to be transmitted duringthe prison visit. Multiple medical experts have given statements agreeing with that diagnosis. The population hovers around just 250, and everyone knew Bobbie Jo Stinnett and her family. She is the most broken of the broken. But the psychological abuse targeted at her was even more damaging. She testified as. Her terror was well-founded, said Montgomery's attorneys, Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell. The following day, the police arrested Montgomery at her home. She was forced to sit in a high chair for hours if she did not finish her food. Facebook gives people the. She did not see her again until Montgomerys trial 34 years later. Montgomery, who confessed, was later sentenced to death for the especially heinous murder as decided by a jury who heard her trial. "It was pretty awful.". "There was so much pressure on her at that point," says Henry. Judy Shaughnessy and her boyfriend physical, psychological and sexual abuse Lisa. "As a result, Lisa has trouble processing information and navigating social relationships. Im not a psychiatrist, so I cant go any further than that.. In recommending execution, the jury spelled out six aggravating factors supporting capital punishment. And then go, 'Stand there and listen to the 911 call of [Stinnett's mother]. President-elect Joe Biden has already pledged to end death penalty proceedings, although he hasn't said when. Montgomery said she was seeking a dog for a Christmas gift. Maybe you should focus your efforts on the fact that Lisa's mother, Judy Shaughnessy, was granted custody of a grandson the year prior to Lisa's crime. But Lisa was broken. Lisa was anally, orally, and vaginally raped by several men, one after the other for several hours at a time. Judy drank throughout her pregnancy with Lisa and caused her to be born with brain damage. "I cried," says Strong. And then at the end, she was broken.". . After Mattingly was removed from the home by social services, Montgomery fell prey to her mother's new husband, who according to statements from his other children, was a violent alcoholic who began sexually abusing Montgomery when she was a pre-teen. In asking for mercy, her family members and attorneys say the untreated trauma she experienced as a child exacerbated her brain damage and hergenetic disposition to severe mental illness, leading her to kill Stinnett during a psychotic episode a dissociative state similar to sleepwalking. When Montgomery was 15, Shaughnessy and Kleiner separated. Montgomery contacted Stinnett, 23, after meeting her at a dog show earlier that year at Abilene, in north-central Kansas, where they posed with others in a photo. Prosecutors said Montgomery was faking mental illness, notingthat many people are sexually abused, but few go on to kill. And then there is the life that Montgomery and her siblings inhabited, one of domestic violence, dysfunction, humiliation, fear and pain. 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