Ms. Montgomery has bipolar dysfunction, temporal lobe epilepsy, advanced post-traumatic stress dysfunction, dissociative dysfunction, psychosis, traumatic mind damage and most probably fetal alcohol syndrome. She was born right into a household rife with psychological sickness, together with schizophrenia, bipolar dysfunction and melancholy. Ms. Montgomery’s mom, Judy Shaughnessy, claimed to have been sexually assaulted by her father.
Ms. Montgomery’s personal father left when she was a toddler. Her household moved yearly, typically greater than that — to Washington, Kansas, Colorado, again to Kansas. She was abused by her mom in excessive and sadistic methods, based on court docket paperwork and mitigation investigations with almost 450 members of the family, neighbors, legal professionals, social staff and lecturers, most completed solely on the behest of the post-conviction attorneys.
She was pressured to sit down for hours in a highchair if she didn’t end her meals. Ms. Shaughnessy so commonly coated her daughter’s mouth with duct tape to maintain her quiet, Lisa realized to not cry. Ms. Shaughnessy informed an investigator that Lisa’s first phrases had been, “Don’t spank me. It hurts.”
Lisa’s stepfather, Jack Kleiner, started to sexually assault her when she was round 13. He constructed a shed-like room with its personal entrance on the facet of the household’s trailer outdoors Tulsa, Okla., and stored Ms. Montgomery there. Ms. Montgomery’s post-conviction group realized that Mr. Kleiner, who was a rampant alcoholic, would convey associates over to rape her, usually for hours, usually three without delay. Ms. Shaughnessy additionally started to prostitute her daughter to offset payments for plumbing and electrical work. (She refused to talk to her daughter’s post-conviction counsel, and has since died.)
Earlier than he died in 2009, Mr. Kleiner videotaped a press release denying the abuse, however his employer testified that Mr. Kleiner had admitted to raping Ms. Montgomery. Her half brother Teddy Kleiner confirmed that their mom would make the opposite children go outdoors whereas she was being raped (his assertion wasn’t made till 2013).
The jury in her 2007 trial heard little or no of any of this. Ms. Montgomery’s male attorneys failed to supply a complete image of her many years of torture. As a substitute, they instructed that her different half brother Tommy Kleiner was the precise killer, regardless of having his personal probation officer as his alibi.
The jury by no means noticed the M.R.I. scans of Ms. Montgomery’s mind, which confirmed tissue loss in her parietal lobe and limbic buildings, and larger-than-normal ventricles, which point out mind injury. They by no means noticed the PET scans, which confirmed an irregular sample of cerebral metabolism indicative of mind dysfunction. These areas will be affected by traumatic experiences and are chargeable for regulating social and emotional habits and reminiscence.