Jury debates punishment for killer of mom-to-be

The decision for the death penalty must be unanimous.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lisa Montgomery’s fate rests today with jurors deliberating whether authorities should execute the woman they convicted this week of slaughtering Bobbie Jo Stinnett to kidnap Stinnett’s unborn daughter, Victoria Jo.

In closing arguments for the penalty phase of the four-week-old trial, federal prosecutors on Thursday called Montgomery a cold and calculating killer. Slaying the eight-month pregnant Stinnett, they argued, was brutal, and only Montgomery’s death could provide justice.

Montgomery’s defense team countered that childhood physical and sexual abuse had left the Melvern, Kan., woman scarred, and that Montgomery had suffered mental disorders that fed her actions in 2004.

The jury, which received the case about 4 p.m. local time Thursday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, deliberated about an hour before calling it a day.

Jurors will reconvene this morning. They must unanimously agree that the government proved at least one of the prosecutors’ proposed aggravating factors connected to the crime, and they must unanimously agree that Montgomery deserves to die.

If not, the 39-year-old woman will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Before beginning deliberations, jurors heard prosecutors hammer on the gruesomeness of Stinnett’s death in her Skidmore, Mo., home. They argued that Montgomery deserved to die for — among other elements of the case — carefully planning the murder of a pregnant woman whose condition prevented her from fully defending herself.

“Bobbie Jo was in the sanctity of her own home. Victoria Jo was in the sanctity of her mother’s womb,” said assistant U.S. attorney Roseann Ketchmark. “This defendant violated Bobbie Jo and Victoria Jo in the most vicious way imaginable.

“The death penalty is reserved for the worst crimes. This crime is the worst.”

Defense attorney Fred Duchardt responded by stressing how the sexual abuse Montgomery suffered at the hands of a stepfather broke her spirit.

He told jurors of Montgomery’s time as the lone breadwinner in her home and explained that Montgomery’s husband, Kevin, and daughters love the defendant and plan to stay in frequent contact with her if she is sentenced to life.

The defense also argued that over the years Montgomery — who was surgically sterilized — became obsessed with having babies and had the delusion that she was pregnant.

“There are some people who say, ‘Those who don’t do mercy shouldn’t get mercy,”’ Duchardt argued. “If we’re looking for something that people deserve, we wouldn’t call it ‘mercy.’ ... I’m not ashamed to ask you for mercy.”

In rebuttal, prosecutors dismissed talk of Montgomery’s rough childhood as “the abuse excuse.”

“Mr. Duchardt said they killed Lisa’s soul,” said assistant U.S. attorney Matt Whitworth. “There’s only one person in this courtroom who killed anyone. ... If you give a life sentence in this case, this defendant wins.”

During arguments Thursday, Montgomery broke down at least once — when Whitworth assailed the defense’s assertions that one of Montgomery’s positives was that she did a good job raising and providing for her children.

Whitworth said much of that credit should go to Montgomery’s ex-husband, Carl Boman. According to evidence presented at trial, Boman sent Montgomery several angry e-mails threatening to expose the truth of Montgomery’s repeated false pregnancy claims and to use those claims to gain custody of the couple’s children.

The prosecution argued that Boman’s threats in part motivated Montgomery to produce a baby to support her false pregnancy claims.