Witness tells jurors pregnant victim had shown kindness to woman now on trial in her death

A pregnant woman who was killed and her baby crudely cut from her womb had stood up for the woman now on trial in the attack when others accused her of lying, a witness testified Friday.

Jurors also heard that the victim tried to defend herself from her attacker before she was strangled.

Jason Dawson testified he knew Lisa Montgomery and Bobbie Jo Stinnett because he and both women raised rat terriers. While he and others in the dog-breeding community eventually came to distrust Montgomery, Dawson said, Stinnett always defended her.

Dawson's comments came during the second day of testimony in Montgomery's federal trial. Montgomery, 39, is accused of strangling Stinnett, 23, in her northwest Missouri home 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.

"Bobbie Jo was a real sweet spirit," Dawson said. "She was kind. She always gave Lisa the benefit of the doubt."

Dawson testified that he met both women in 2002 and frequently chatted with them online or met them in person to exchange dogs. Eventually, he said, he came to believe that Montgomery sometimes lied about what dogs she owned.

"As time went on, the relationship went south," he said. "Generally she was lying to me. There was no reason for her to be untruthful."

Earlier Friday, coroner Miguel Laboy showed jurors several photographs taken during the autopsy. They showed what Laboy called defensive wounds on Stinnett's hands, face and elbows, illustrating her struggle against her attacker.

Jurors also saw graphic photos of where the baby was cut from Stinnett's body.

Sgt. Curtis Howard of the St. Joseph Police Department also testified, saying that on the night of Stinnett's death, he found an online chat in which Montgomery, using the alias Darlene Fischer, had set up a meeting to buy a dog from Stinnett. Police tracked down Montgomery and the baby the next day through the online conversations.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Montgomery is convicted. The trial is expected to take at least three weeks.

Her attorneys do not deny she was involved in the killing and are mounting an insanity defense. Besides convicting or acquitting her outright, jurors have the option of finding her not guilty by reason of insanity.

In opening statements Thursday, defense attorney Frederick Duchardt Jr. told the jury that Montgomery suffered post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by years of abuse as a teen. She also had a condition in which a woman falsely believes she is pregnant.

Federal prosecutor Matt J. Whitworth said in his opening statement that Montgomery planned the crime in advance, detailing Montgomery's computer searches on Web sites about how to perform Caesarean sections and home births. He said she was concerned that her ex-husband was threatening to expose her faked pregnancy and get custody of her children.