US Government to execute first woman since 1953

WASHINGTON: The US Government has set the dates of two more executions this year which also includes that of the first woman since 1953.

Lisa Montgomery, who in 2004 was convicted of strangling a Missouri woman who was eight months pregnant, is expected to receive the lethal injection on December 8, said the Department of Justice.

According to CNN, the last woman executed by the US Government dates back to December 18, 1953, as per the US Bureau of prisons records, for kidnapping and murder. CNN further reported that Ethel Rosenberg was famously executed for espionage, along with her husband, Julius, which was also in 1953.


"Montgomery's execution will be the Justice Department's eighth this year after a 17-year hiatus," CNN reported. A convicted killer by the name of Daniel Lewis Lee was executed in July. Lee's execution was the first federal execution in 17 years after the Supreme Court issued an overnight ruling.

Montgomery is held at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The US Government has not executed anyone since 2003 and just four people since 1960, according to Bureau of Prisons records.

Lawyer Kelley Henry said her client Montgomery "is mentally ill, suffered horrible childhood abuse, and had poor representation at trial."