Harwell called this a "needless indignity, and a deprivation of really her basic humanity."
According to the Associated Press, Montgomery looked "momentarily bewildered" when she saw the crowd of journalists who had gathered to view her execution. The AP reported that Montgomery declined to give any sort of last statement.
One of Montgomery's attorneys, Kelley Henry, called her execution the result of "the craven bloodlust of a failed administration," and said that "everyone who participated in the execution of Lisa Montgomery should feel shame."
Henry noted that Montgomery was the "victim of unspeakable torture and sex trafficking," and that "no one can credibly dispute Mrs. Montgomery's long standing debilitating mental disease."
"Our Constitution forbids the execution of a person who is unable to rationally understand her execution. The current administration knows this. And they killed her anyway," said Henry.
"As courts agreed Lisa's case presented important legal issues warranting serious consideration – including whether she was competent to execute – the government hammered onward with appeals," she said.
Henry described the execution as "far from justice," and said that she never should have been sentenced to death, "as no other woman has faced execution for a similar crime."
Montgomery was sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a 23-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant. Montgomery proceeded to cut open Stinnett's uterus and delivered her child, a girl. She then kidnapped the girl across state lines. The girl was safely recovered the day following her mother's murder.
Henry insisted that Montgomery was "much more than the tragic crime she committed, a crime for which she felt deep remorse before she lost all touch with reality in the days before her execution," as well as the abuse she suffered throughout her life.
Henry called Montgomery a "loving mother, grandmother, and sister who adored her family," and a devout Christian.
"When not gripped by psychosis, she was a gentle and caring person whom I was honored to know and to represent," said Henry.
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Multiple Catholic figures, including U.S. bishops, had spoken out against Montgomery's planned execution, arguing that she was mentally unwell and that the death penalty itself is unjust.
In 2019, the Trump administration announced that federal executions would resume after a nearly two-decade moratorium.