The only woman on federal death row is set to be executed Tuesday—but her lawyers are hoping the president will intervene. Lisa Montgomery's defense team filed a petition for clemency Tuesday, USA Today reports. "We're asking now that President Trump to please hear our plea," one of the 52-year-old's federal public defenders said at a press conference Tuesday. "He can be a hero in this case, he can be a hero for women who've been victims of sex trafficking, and he can make a very public statement about the importance of ending stigmatization of mental illness." Montgomery strangled an 8-months-pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett in 2004, then cut the baby girl from her womb and tried to pass the infant off as her own.
But her lawyers say Montgomery was victimized by incest, child sex trafficking, gang rape, physical abuse, and neglect, mostly from her own family members. Doctors also say she has congenital brain damage and multiple traumatic brain injuries, which, her lawyers say, "have resulted in incurable and significant psychiatric disabilities." They want her sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole. CNN reports the defense team also plans to take the case to the Supreme Court. "We have legal avenues that remain open to us. We will be fighting as hard as possible to prevent this execution from taking place," one of them said. The Guardian delves into Montgomery's history here. (More Lisa Montgomery stories.)
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