Federal judge delays execution of Lisa Montgomery

Scheduled execution of lisa montgomery... good evening i'm alan van zandt... a federal judge stepping in to stop the execution -- at least for now... kq2's jodie o'brien is in the studio with more on the ruling in the case that gripped a small northwest missouri town ...and the country 13-years ago... many of us know the name well -- lisa montgomery ..and the gruesome details behind the story... montgomery was set to become the first woman executed in 70-years ..but today a federal judge put that on hold... the judge delayed montgomery's execution set for december 8th.

This comes after her lawyer's filed a lawsuit asking to delay the execution because they contracted covid-19 while working on the case.

They argued they would not be able to provide all the information in a clemency petition to the president in an effort to save montgomery's life ..because they were sick.

The case made national headlines back in 2004 when montgomery traveled to skidmore in nodaway county and brutally murdered bobbi jo stinnett ..cutting her unborn child out of her womb.

Nodaway county sheriff randy strong who went to melvern, kansas and arrested montgomery says the case still haunts him.

(sot sheriff randy strong/nodaway county: ""when we walk into her house we find her with our stolen infant.

We spend time get the confession, the long drive back, then the next day the reports, there were like three days we didn't get to sleep.

And it was such a heinous, gruesome crime you still think about it.

You'll never forget how bad that was.") strong says he also believes there will be mixed emotions in the community when montgomery is put to death...the judge ruled that montgomery's execution can not happen before decembr 31st... but no date has been set yet for when the government will carry out her execution... reporting in studio ..jodie o'brien kq2 news.