The Death Penalty and Justice: The Unsettling Case of Lisa Montgomery and a Call for Clemency

In this episode Krista and her guests, attorney Kelley Henry and Diane Mattingly, explore the humanity of one of "the least of these"--a victim of extreme abuse, mental illness and a death-row inmate, Lisa Montgomery. Kelley and Diane make a strong case for clemency for Lisa and describe the psychological toll that unchecked child abuse and torture can have on a person. Diane speaks about the power of love in a child's life and shares the dramatic impact her own foster family had on her life as she pleads for the president to show clemency, giving her sister life in prison without parole.  
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Click here for Diane Mattingly's featured article on Newsweek.com.
The Case of Lisa Montgomery: A Childhood of Torture, Rape, And Sex Trafficking Leading to Lifelong Mental Illness
"Lisa Montgomery’s life has been marked by relentless trauma and terror, exacerbating her genetic predisposition to severe mental illness. Lisa committed her crime while in the grip of a psychotic episode and even today, she must take a complex cocktail of medications to stave off recurrent psychosis.
She is the only woman under a federal death sentence and the only woman on death row in the entire country for the type of crime that she committed. Although Lisa was only recently denied an appeal, the government has already set a date for her execution on December 8, 2020 [now moved to January 12, 2021 due to Covid-19]. Lisa’s case has been marked by gender discrimination, ineffective lawyering, and other serious errors.
Lisa is a survivor of child abuse, domestic violence, incest, multiple rapes, and child sex trafficking. Lisa’s mother sexually trafficked her starting when she was a small child, including allowing her to be gang raped by adult men on multiple occasions and telling Lisa she had to “earn her keep.” Her years of torture at the hands of caregivers, documented brain damage, and severe mental illness have severed her connection with reality; without antipsychotic medication, she would lose the ability to understand what is happening to her and to know what is real.": [Keep reading at: www.savelisa.org.}
Music by Veronica Cinibulk.