Feds Lean Toward Execution In Slaying Of Pregnant Mo. Woman

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A woman charged with strangling an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb pleaded not guilty Thursday, and prosecutors said they are leaning toward seeking the death penalty.

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Web Site: Memorial Web Site
Slideshow: See Pictures From Murder-Kidnap Case
Court Record: FBI Affidavit
Web Site: Where Victim Allegedly Met Suspect

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Lisa Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., didn't speak during the brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Maughmer, who asked U.S. Attorney Todd Graves if he planned to seek a death sentence.

"That is the direction we are going," Graves said.

Montgomery is charged with a single federal count of kidnapping resulting in death in the Dec. 16 slaying of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a 23-year-old who was eight-months pregnant with her first child.

The baby, later named Victoria Jo by her father, survived the attack. She was found the next day with Montgomery in Kansas.

Anita Burns, a public defender for Montgomery, declined to speak with reporters after the hearing. Maughmer said Thursday he would appoint additional counsel for Montgomery in light of prosecutors' likely pursuit of a death sentence.

Authorities have said Montgomery admitted to the crime, just the eighth of its kind recorded in the United States since 1983, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

David Berg, an attorney who authored "The Trial Lawyer: What It Takes To Win," said Montgomery's lawyers must immediately try to humanize their client to the public - and potential jurors - by showing any good she has done or any troubles she has faced.

"The major issue they've got is that she is publicly hated," Berg said. "They can find an opportunity in open court to say things about the client that might humanize her. If she's had a history of illness, then it's important that the public understand that. Otherwise her evil is beyond comprehension."

He and other legal experts said defense lawyers may be best served by pursuing an insanity defense, which studies have found are used in a tiny fraction of cases, often unsuccessfully.

"The insanity defense is always a difficult defense," said Rodney Uphoff, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "If Jeffrey Dahmer can be found to be not insane by a jury and he's actually been eating people, I think that speaks to how difficult it is."

Berg said the insanity defense may be difficult, "but that's about the only possible defense they have."

A key to winning a judgment of not guilty by reason of insanity often means showing the crime was not premeditated, experts said.

But prosecutors have already amassed a play-by-play account leading up to Stinnett's killing that they intend to use as evidence of premeditation.

Investigators followed a digital trail to Montgomery, which they said shows she communicated online with Stinnett the day before the attack. The two had become acquainted through a community of rat terrier dog breeders, but authorities said Montgomery used an alias in her online conversations with Stinnett.

There are some places where donations to help the family are being accepted:
1. Midwest Bank
c/o Bobbie Jo Stinnett Memorial
402 N. Main
Maryville, MO 64468

2. Nodaway County Sheriff's Dept.
c/o Stinnett Family
404 N. Vine
Maryville, MO 64468