The sentence is death in the penalty phase of the Lisa Montgomery murder trial. The jury, which found the Malvern, Kansas, woman guilty in the December, 2004, murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Skidmore, Missouri, has determined Montgomery should die for killing the pregnant Stinnett and cutting out the woman’s unborn child.
Throughout the trial at the Kansas City Federal Courthouse, defense attorneys had argued Montgomery was mentally ill and not fully responsible for her actions. Montgomery kidnapped Stinnett’s baby, who is now almost 3-years-old, and claimed the child as her own. The defense tried to convince the jury that Montgomery suffered from the delusional belief that she was pregnant, as well as from post traumatic stress disorder.
The prosecution maintained Montgomery had killed the Skidmore woman and took her child to back up false pregnancy claims to friends and family.
The court will schedule a formal sentencing hearing later.
Montgomery and Stinnett had met through their interests in breeding rat terriers.
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