US executes a woman, Lisa Montgomery, for the first time in 70 years
- Lisa Montgomery was found guilty of murder and attempts to get a stay of execution reached as high as the Supreme Court
- The death sentence was not overturned and sh died by lethal injection
- Donald Trump had pushed for the death penalty; executions had resumed under Trump and had increased at an unprecedented state
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Lisa Montgomery was sentenced to death by lethal injection for murder and attempted to steal a baby. She was the first woman to be executed in 70 years according to ITV.
She was pronounced dead at 1:31 am Eastern Time (0631 GMT) at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Her lawyer had argued that her execution was "vicious, unlawful, and unnecessary exercise of authoritarian power."
Source: Getty Images
There had been a legal tug of war in the courts over attempts to stop the execution with Montgomery's defenders not claiming her innocence but wanting a stay of execution while other argued that she deserved the sentence according to BBC.
Among those calling for her execution was President Donald Trump. The case reached as high as the US Supreme court which gave the execution the green light.
Under Donald Trump, the US has renewed executions after a 17-year pause, with the number of executions being carried out at an unprecedented pace.
In the last 6 months, ten people have been executed in the United States.
There was an attempt to delay the execution until prison staff were vaccinated, this would have then have taken place after Joe Biden's inauguration. Biden might have asked for a different outcome.
Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that the African Transformation Movement has weighed in on the reintroduction of the death penalty in South Africa.
News24 reports that the party had called on both Modise and Ramaphosa to ask for both a referendum on the issue as well as public hearings to be held, with Vuyo Zungula writing:
"As the African Transformation Movement, we hold a firm view that a very strong message needs to be sent to all the murderers and rapists, that the country will not tolerate this kind of abhorrent behaviour. The right to life, enshrined in the Constitution, cannot be the sole preserve of murderers and rapists."
In other news, Briefly.co.za launched a poll on Facebook, asking our readers if they thought the death penalty should be brought into the South African justice system.
Within four hours, more than 2 200 of our followers gave their views - 2 000 voted for the death penalty to be brought back while only 298 voted against it.
We decided to take a look at some of the comments our readers left, substantiating the reasons for their votes.
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Source: Briefly News
