Attorneys Say Woman Accused In Killing Was Mentally Ill

Friday, October 5th 2007, 7:35 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ A woman accused of killing a pregnant acquaintance and cutting her baby from her womb suffered from mental disorders brought on by years of child abuse, defense attorneys said as her trial opened.

Lisa Montgomery, 39, of Melvern, Kan., is accused of strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, on Dec. 16, 2004 and using a kitchen knife to cut the baby from her womb. The baby, Victoria Jo Stinnett, survived and is now almost 3 years old. The trial resumes Friday.

``You'll hear about those beatings, how often they were, how degrading they were from her sister,'' said defense attorney Frederick Duchardt Jr.

Prosecutors have announced their intention to seek the death penalty if Montgomery is convicted. She has pleaded not guilty.

Duchardt told jurors that the defense would not deny Montgomery's involvement in Stinnett's death. But they intended to show Montgomery suffered from years of abuse, including being raped by a stepfather from when she was about 12 until she was 16.

Duchardt also told the jury that Montgomery has a condition called pseudocyesis, in which a woman falsely believes she is pregnant and can exhibit some of the outward signs of pregnancy.

Mental illnesses, compounded by a brewing custody battle with her former husband over their four children, pushed Montgomery to kill Stinnett, Duchardt said.

Federal prosecutor Matt J. Whitworth said in his opening statement that Montgomery planned the crime in advance. He depicted a desperate struggle between Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, and Montgomery, citing testimony from law enforcement officers, medical personnel, neighbors and family.

``This defendant spent a great deal of time planning this crime,'' Whitworth said as he detailed Montgomery's computer searches on Web sites about how to perform cesarean sections and home births.

Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey, the first law enforcement officer to respond to an emergency call at Stinnett's home, testified as the prosecution began presenting its case Thursday.

``You could see swirls in the floor in the blood, showing there was a struggle,'' he said. ``Bobbie Jo had jagged wounds on her lower abdomen. I noticed her stomach had been jaggedly cut open and some intestines were protruding from the body.''

On cross-examination, however, the defense team sought to whittle away at the idea that Montgomery and Stinnett fought after Montgomery had been cut open.

Police tracked down Montgomery and the baby the next day in Melvern through e-mails Montgomery had sent Stinnett about buying a rat terrier, which Stinnett and her husband raised at their Skidmore home in northwest Missouri.

Dr. Richard Holman, an obstetrician-gynecologist, said he was called in to help at the hospital because ``a pregnant woman who has been eviscerated'' is arriving. Evisceration, he said, is when bowels ``that are inside the body are now outside the body because of a wound or something of that nature.''

Testimony also included several graphic photos of Stinnett's wounds, as well as the bloody floors in the room where she was found by her mother, Becky Harper, who also gave brief testimony about finding her daughter.

``There was blood everywhere. She was laying on the floor,'' Harper said, fighting tears. ``It looked like she exploded all over the place.''