Suspect in Skidmore killing makes initial court appearance

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A woman accused of killing an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb asked for a public defender Tuesday in one of her first steps of what's likely to be a long legal journey.

Federal prosecutors have charged Lisa Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., with kidnapping resulting in death. She is accused of strangling eight-months-pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett and cutting the baby from her womb during a Dec. 16 attack at Stinnett's home in Skidmore.

Tuesday marked Montgomery's first court appearance in Missouri after it was transferred from the other side of the state line in Kansas.

Shackled at the ankles, waist and wrists and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Montgomery answered quietly -- often inaudible to those gathered in the courtroom -- to a series of questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer in a hearing Tuesday that lasted just about 10 minutes.

"Have you read a copy of this complaint?" Maughmer asked.

"Yes, I have," Montgomery said.

The queries continued: how frequently did she receive a paycheck (every two weeks), does she own a car (a 1986 Isuzu Trooper), how many children does she have (four).

Based on her answers, Maughmer said, Montgomery would qualify for a public defender. Two such lawyers, Anita Burns and David Owen, were in the court, but it was not clear if they would be permanently assigned to the case.

Burns and Owen left without speaking to reporters.

Maughmer advised Montgomery that she could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted as she is currently charged.

U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said it is "way too early to make a determination" on whether prosecutors would seek the defendant's death.

Montgomery is scheduled to return to court Thursday afternoon for a detention hearing, and prosecutors have already asked she be denied bond. The defense has not said if they'll seek her release.

Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, was found by her mother in a pool of blood, her midsection sliced open. The day of the killing, officials say Montgomery called her husband from Topeka, Kan., and told him she had just delivered a baby girl.

Authorities said the baby was found a day later, Dec. 17, with Montgomery and her husband in Melvern. The infant, named Victoria Jo Stinnett, spent that weekend in a Topeka hospital before going home with her widowed father.