I was eight years old, living in a trailer park with my abusive step-mom Judy who, after screaming on the phone for what seemed like an hour, was now squatting down in front of me. It was a drizzly morning in Ogden, Kansas. Below, Montgomery’s 57-year-old half-sister Diane Mattingly opens up to about her sister's tragic past-and why she thinks sparing her life can "break the chain of evil actions." Mattingly's account of the abuse she and Montgomery both endured growing up was part of her testimony in court in support of Montgomery's unsuccessful motion to vacate the death sentence. Her lawyers say she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and regularly dissociates and hallucinates. Montgomery, a mentally ill woman with childhood trauma stemming from years of rape and physical assault, fled with the baby and tried to pass it off as her own, proudly announcing the “birth” of her daughter to friends and family.Īlmost exactly 16 years after Stinnett’s murder, Montgomery, at age 52, is set to be executed, making her the first female federal inmate to die by lethal injection since the Trump administration resurrected federal executions in July. Once inside her house, Montgomery killed Stinnett and then removed her 8-month-old fetus with a kitchen knife. Under the guise of purchasing a puppy, Lisa Montgomery set up a meeting with Stinnett. Without gender-sensitive training and resources to enable trauma-informed legal proceedings, women around the world will continue to receive unjust convictions and sentences.One week before Christmas in 2004, a pregnant 23-year-old dog breeder named Bobbie Jo Stinnett was strangled to death at her home in Skidmore, Missouri. Lisa’s case is not unique: gender discrimination routinely contributes to extreme sentences for women, including death and life without parole. They failed to explain to the judge and jury or present expert testimony on how her trauma affected her demeanor, mental health, crime, and incarceration.Īs a result, the jury sentenced Lisa to death, while more than a dozen women nationwide who committed virtually identical crimes received reduced sentences. They failed to object to the prosecutor’s weaponization of Lisa’s motherhood. In many ways, Lisa’s case epitomized the destructive force of a court system that is not trauma-informed.ĭuring Lisa’s trial, her attorneys failed to provide critical evidence and details of her abuse. The prosecutor deemed any evidence of the violence she experienced as “the abuse excuse.” In Lisa’s case, the prosecutor presented testimony that faulted Lisa as a mother, criticizing her inability to cook, clean, and provide transportation for her children. Prosecutors often rely on traditional ideas of how a woman should behave, look, or act to help make their case. Prosecutors weaponize gendered stereotypes of women involving motherhood and promiscuity to push narratives of guilt. The legal system’s failure to account for women’s experiences of gender-based violence is often coupled with gender discrimination. These tactics heighten the risk of wrongful convictions and hyper-punitive sentences. Instead of recognizing these behaviors as evidence of trauma, untrained judges and prosecutors, unfamiliar with its effects, weaponize a woman's demeanor, inconsistent testimony, or confession to cast her as untrustworthy, unremorseful, and guilty. Survivors of violence may exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress such as hysteria, anger, or numbness in the courtroom. Symptoms of trauma and related conditions tend to produce memory lapses, resulting in non-linear or inconsistent storytelling. Trauma makes women more susceptible to police pressure during interrogation, creating a higher risk for false confessions. Survivors often suffer steep credibility discounts. Trauma affects every stage of a woman's exposure to the criminal justice process, from arrest to incarceration or execution.
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