A US appeals court has lifted a stay of execution on the woman awaiting a federal death penalty, BBC reported.

Convicted Lisa Montgomery was found guilty of the particularly brutal murder of a pregnant woman in 2004. The sentence was to be carried out on December 8 in Indiana by lethal injection.

However, her lawyers had contracted the COVID-19 and they had to be given time to recover and prepare a petition for commutation of punishment. Later, the district court postponed the execution to January 12, but now the decision has been canceled and the execution may take place earlier.