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Attorney: Client On Antipsychotic Meds Risks 'Tortuous Death' At Execution In Indiana

Terre Haute Penitentiary

Lisa Montgomery is one of three inmates set to be executed next week at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute. (Courtesy: Federal Bureau of Prisons)

Attorneys for the only woman on federal death row are worried that medications she’s prescribed could interfere with lethal injection drugs and cause prolonged suffering.

The U.S. government plans to execute Lisa Montgomery next week at a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute for the murder of a young Missouri woman in 2004.

Montgomery’s attorneys say she suffers from multiple mental health disorders including complex post-traumatic stress disorder and a dissociative disorder. She takes anti-psychotic drugs in addition to anti-depressants and other medications for a heart condition.

Lisa - Clemency Video from Kelley J. Henry on Vimeo.

Attorney Kelley Henry is concerned that two of those medications could interfere with one another and the lethal injection drugs. She says the interaction could lead to suffering during the execution. That is especially true if Montgomery develops pulmonary edema, an excruciating condition in which liquid pours into the lungs and prevents breathing.

"There is a consideration that there's a problem with the interaction between Remeron and one of her heart medications and pentobarbital," Henry said.

The possible interaction "makes it particularly concerning that she could be subjected to, you know, a torturous death ... There's a huge concern that Lisa could suffer."

Kelley was speaking Tuesday after attorneys released a detailed clemency application, which was submitted to President Donald Trump late last month.

The petition explains Montgomery’s history of serious mental illness as well as the extreme sexual abuse she suffered as a child including being trafficked by her own family.

READ MORE: Appeals Court Vacates Order Delaying Woman's Execution

An NPR investigation earlier this year found that most autopsies conducted on executed inmates in lethal injections going back decades showed evidence of edema. The condition is thought to be caused by high doses of medications such as during lethal injection.

Experts compare the sensation to drowning. Attorneys argue that it is not humane to allow people to suffer to such an extent during an execution.

Montgomery also suffers from asthma and sleep apnea. Both could make someone more vulnerable to lung conditions such as pulmonary edema.

The attorneys are also "very concerned that they won't be able to get a vein," Henry said.

"I know that the trauma and anxiety of an execution can cause your veins to constrict, making it difficult to get an IV. We're horrified at the possibility that they might have to do a 'cut down' in order to get venous access," she said.

Attorneys decided to be present if the execution goes forward. "If they torture her during the execution, we have to be able to get on the phone to the court," she said. 

READ MORE: Anti-Death Penalty Group Petitions AG To Halt Federal Executions

Montgomery was sentenced to death in 2007 for murdering a pregnant woman named Bobbie Jo Stinnett before cutting out and kidnapping her unborn child, who survived. 

Mental health experts and social workers say Montgomery experienced extreme abuse as a child that likely led her to developing psychiatric conditions in adulthood. She has also experienced brain damage from injuries and from her late mother's drinking. 

Her attorneys are arguing that Trump should commute the death sentence to life in prison. 

Montgomery's execution is scheduled for Jan. 12 in Terre Haute. Another two men, Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs, are scheduled to be executed later the same week. 

The Trump administration carried out 10 death sentences at the Indiana facility in 2020. That number is far higher than in any other administration in recent decades.

This story has been updated. 

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