Why Lisa Montgomery Shouldn't be Executed - NYTimesOn Dec. 16, 2004, Ms. Montgomery drove to Skidmore, Mo., where she strangled a pregnant woman named Bobbie Jo Stinnett, then sliced open her belly and took the baby to the home she shared with her husband, Kevin, in Kansas. The baby survived....
Ms. Montgomery has bipolar disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorder, psychosis, traumatic brain injury and most likely fetal alcohol syndrome. She was born into a family rife with mental illness, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. Ms. Montgomery’s mother, Judy Shaughnessy, claimed to have been sexually assaulted by her father....
The jury never saw the M.R.I. scans of Ms. Montgomery’s brain, which showed tissue loss in her parietal lobe and limbic structures, and larger-than-normal ventricles, which indicate brain damage. They never saw the PET scans, which showed an abnormal pattern of cerebral metabolism indicative of brain dysfunction. These areas can be affected by traumatic experiences and are responsible for regulating social and emotional behavior and memory....
...On an Adverse Childhood Experiences test, Ms. Montgomery scored nine out of 10 — a number that coincides with the most extreme forms of torture. On a different test, the Global Assessment of Functioning, given by one of her therapists a year or so before the crime, Ms. Montgomery scored a 48. A normal score is 80 to 100. Such a score points to “severe impairment” in daily activities. (In prison, it took Ms. Montgomery an entire month to learn to make her bed according to the guidelines.)...
...The prosecutor, Matt Whitworth, an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., used the famous Alan Dershowitz phrase “abuse excuse” in his closing argument. But what Mr. Whitworth and so many others refuse to understand is how abuse is cumulative. Traumatic brain injuries are cumulative. Punch after punch, kick after kick, rape after rape. Injured brains do not heal like injured bodies...
...That the Department of Justice is ordering executions in the middle of a pandemic is itself cause for alarm. Since the Supreme Court has prohibited the execution of people who are mentally incompetent, Ms. Montgomery is entitled to be assessed by a mental health professional close to the date of her execution — something that might not be possible during the coronavirus outbreak. No one can visit her at her prison in Texas except for her immediate family and her lawyers, two of whom are based in Nashville and are recovering from Covid-19. The third lawyer is based in Kansas City and cannot travel to Texas because of the risks posed by the virus.
If you'd like to read about the extensive abuse and sex trafficking, both as a child and an adult, you will have to read the article or check out Cornell's website which has similar information. Alternatively, I have the petition for a writ of certiorari which has a ton of information, also. I have seen and read a lot of cases, and I found it shocking and upsetting, quite frankly.
That aside, I am questioning whether it is ethical to execute someone with this level of impairment.
Her ACE score is 9/10 (4/10 is considered to be very high), her GAF is 48, she has a mood disorder with psychosis, a dissociative disorder, a trauma disorder (CPTSD is only recognized in the ICD codes and not by the DSM but it is PTSD with personality changes due to repeated and chronic abuse), and probable fetal alcohol syndrome. The description of her neurobiology? It's shocking, but it's also what you'd expect when you combine brain injuries, exposure to alcohol in utero, and trauma. At the time of the crime, she had pseudocyesis and was actively delusional (and likely in a dissociative state) in terms of thinking she was actually pregnant.
As a result of the standard set in Daubert, the MRI was excluded as evidence of the abuse and trauma. The government's expert claimed she was malingering (faking) but there is a problem with this. The tests used to assess for psychopathology (MMPI, MCMI, PAI, etc.) have validity indices that are next to impossible to cheat. I have successfully done it because I am training to administer them, and the level of knowledge needed to do so is actually astounding. Those validity indices often are sensitive to very extreme psychopathology - severe psychosis and severe neuroses (mood/anxiety). Someone who experienced non-stop abuse from day one with genetic and biological factors is going to have a lot of problems so we can safely say she's going to have at least some psychopathology which would be identifiable during the SCID or other interview. All psychological tests are sensitive to individuals who have either a broad set of problems or very extreme ones - you cannot distinguish between faking bad and just being really, really psychologically ill. These evaluations are also super sensitive when someone's identity or sense of identity is unstable (psychosis/delusions, dissociation).
This does not change what she did, but it should change whether the death penalty is even on the table. She may not be NGRI, but honestly, this is worse than being cognitively impaired (intellectual disability). This should also be considered cruel and unusual.