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Texas Department of Criminal Justice via Reuters
Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday for the stabbing murder of her neighbor in 1997.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Dallas judge has halted the scheduled Tuesday night execution of a Texas woman who would have been the first woman put to death in the U.S. in three years.
The order from state District Judge Larry Mitchell moves the execution of Kimberly McCarthy, 51, to April 3.
McCarthy faced lethal injection for the 1997 beating, stabbing and robbery of a 71-year-old neighbor in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas.
Lawyers for McCarthy, who is black, argued that the jury that convicted and sentenced her to death was selected improperly based on race. It was made up of 11 white people and one black person.
The Dallas County District Attorney's office said it wouldn't appeal the ruling. The DA's office had called the effort a "mere delay" tactic, saying the record didn't support a valid legal claim for discrimination.
A Dallas County jury had already found McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist, guilty of the killing when evidence at the punishment phase of her trial tied her to two similar murders a decade earlier.
"Once the jury heard about those other two, we were certainly in a deep hole," recalled McCarthy's lead trial attorney, Doug Parks. Jurors decided McCarthy should die.
Her execution would have been the first since a Virginia inmate, Teresa Lewis, became the 12th woman put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. In that same time, 1,309 men have been executed.
McCarthy also would have been the first woman executed in Texas in more than eight years and the fourth overall in the state, which executes the most people in the nation — 492 prisoners since capital punishment resumed 30 years ago.
Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics compiled from 1980 through 2008 show women make up about 10 percent of homicide offenders nationwide. According to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 3,146 people were on the nation's death rows as of last Oct. 1, and only 63 — 2 percent — were women.
Ring cut from living victim
Evidence showed McCarthy, who has exhausted her court appeals, phoned Booth to borrow a cup of sugar, then attacked Booth when she went to retrieve it. Booth was stabbed with a butcher knife, beaten with a large candle holder and robbed of a diamond wedding ring.
"(McCarthy) quite literally took the woman, put her left hand on a chopping block of the kitchen and then used a knife to sever her ring finger while she was still alive," said Greg Davis, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted McCarthy. "She took the ring from the finger that had been severed and continued the attack until she finally killed her."
Prosecutors showed McCarthy stole Booth's Mercedes and drove to Dallas, pawned the ring for $200 and then went to a crack house to buy some cocaine. Evidence also showed she used Booth's credit cards at a liquor store and was carrying Booth's driver's license.
Booth's DNA was found on a 10-inch butcher knife recovered from McCarthy's home. McCarthy was arrested after police found her name on a pawn shop receipt for the ring.
McCarthy was tried twice for Booth's slaying, most recently in 2002. Her first conviction in 1998 was thrown out three years later by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which ruled police violated her rights by using a statement she made to them after asking for a lawyer.
Prosecutors presented DNA and fingerprint evidence that tied McCarthy to similar slayings of two other women in Dallas in December 1988. Maggie Harding, 81, was beaten with a meat tenderizer and stabbed.
Jettie Lucas, 85, was beaten with both sides of a claw hammer and stabbed. McCarthy was indicted but not tried for those slayings. She denied any involvement.
“When the jury saw the other two were equally gruesome, I think it sealed the deal for her," Davis said.
McCarthy is a former wife of Aaron Michaels, founder of the New Black Panther Party, and he testified on her behalf. They had separated before Booth's slaying.
McCarthy declined to speak with reporters as her execution date neared. She's one of 10 women on death row in Texas but the only one with an execution date.
In 1998, Karla Faye Tucker, 38, became the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War for a robbery in Houston where two people were killed with a pickax.
At least eight male Texas prisoners have executions scheduled in the coming months.
Related:
Widow asks Pennsylvania governor not to execute husband's killer
Convicted Ohio killer: I'm too obese to be executed
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Cretinous scum sucking judge stayed execution - they should make him house her and provide her security while the execution is stayed. If these moron judges had to be exposed to the results of their stupidity, I'll bet you would see a lot less of this kind of thing. Or maybe, just put the judge on the table in place of her.
Ok, I'm not a supporter of the death penalty, but c'mon, this was pretty heinous stuff, and that picture with those dead eyes is chilling; whether you're white or black, you'd want to stay away from someone who looked that disconnected.
Although they were chained to a log, stabbed over 100 times, had their fingers cut off, shot in the head 6 times, authorities are now convinced the victim committed suicide.
She probably owns a glove that doesn't fit but unluckily for her they dint find it at the crime scene ..
Uh oh, race is involved. President Obama want to chime in, it seems you get involved everytime some crap like this comes up.
This country is sooo screwed up with the "right thing".. So what if there was only one black person on the jury?? She was only one black woman who killed her neighbor...
I'm in my 60's... I can walk up to you, kill you and be supported by taxpayers for the rest of my life... I will die in prison...
Murder's should have a 30 day trail check to make sure all is ok... Then kill them....
This absolutely infuriates me! She committed what amounts to an extremely gruesome, premeditated murder (look at the facts) and then has her legal eagles pull the good ole race card. Aw, poor ole black woman, didn't have a fair chance.
It is disgusting! I am thoroughly sick of these legal antics! Ms McCarthy, you killed a woman in cold blood--actually, you killed 3 women but this case only involves the murder of one woman--and you think you should get dealt another hand in the card game of life? WRONG!
She was convicted in 1997. Sixteen years of housing, clothing, medical care, guarding, appeals... We are talking 30 K per year and hundreds of thousands in appeals. Now this judge falls for the old "racist" claim at the 11th hour. She was found guilty. Period. She is a killer. Put her to death now, it is the only way to prevent her from killing again.
Some folks just got to go. It appears evidence and due process were served.
another "victory for justice!" *gags self*
Give it up! Hang this nappy-headed Killer!
to all of the bleeding hearts that think this POS should live, put her in a striped uniform, go outside with the chain gang and clean, rake and maintain county roads from sun up to sundown. Do not let the POS and others like her to sit around all day and watch tv, and have sex with their girlfriends...maybe that will be deterrent enough for the public and save county funds. to those who argue cruel and unusual punishment...dont you think that what this POS did was cruel and unusual? what is sad is we always forget about the victim! i will bet you a dime to a doughnut that that was never mentioned in the appeals process! stupid judge and stupid liberal media!
I am also not a fan of Capital Punishment, but I DO believe in Democracy and the right of people in this country to decide such things. I am no bleeding heart, I do not have sympathy for this woman, I just don't believe in killing her just to rid the world of her. That said, the people have spoken ( so to speak) and it should not be delayed.
I understand how you feel. I want to assure you that this person could contribute nothing to society in or out of prison. She has proven this already. We are not talking about someone who was wrongfully convicted. We are talking about a person who targets and bludgeons the elderly before she kills them and robs them.
There is an inherent value to all human life. Those who fail to respect that, forfeit the value of their own life.
It is considered inhumane to cage a wild animal, yet humane to do the same to an uncivilized person. I have never been able to wrap my brain around that paradox. If she will be forever tormented by yearnings of murder we cannot allow her to commit, isn't it more humane to end her suffering?
If this also gives a sense of justice to grieving families, a sense of peace to the community, and a financial burden is lifted from the state, so much the better.
Oh, I understand the rational, I just can't personally go along with it....I wonder of course how I would feel if it had been my family, I guess I don't know, but it didn't, and so there it is, for me anyway..
Ed it isn't that hard to imagine . Imagine if this scum home invaded your mother's house , beat and tortured her , cut off her finger while she was still alive in complete agony , then continued to beat her to death with a hammer. If that happened you would change your mind in a heart beat . I have a friend who used to think just like you until his grandmother was raped by some freak . His mind was instantly and forever changed. I think whats lacking with the liberal mindset is empathy for the victim . They only think about how PC they can be ,and are mainly against the death penalty to prove that .
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Martin L. King.
I have a dream that one day humans will evolve to a state where killing is no longer an issue, but I'm not holding my breath
and that has to do with this ....... how ?? How about a nation where a 78 year old woman can live her life out in peace without some piece of @!$%# crack whore torturing and murdering her ?Delfairchild why don't you try and think of what it must have been like to be that old woman in her last and final hour ? Colour isn't the issue .If the murderer was white we would still say fry her .
Yes sir......I hope that day comes to fruition for your children too.....I hope that one day your children will live in a nation that juices, shocks, shoots, or gasses motherfu____ers who kill innocent people no matter the color of the killer or the killee.....!!! Word???
That is not what I meant, nor do I agree with it. Please try not to twist my words to meet your own needs, just use your own....
@ somedude - I think Del is alluding to the fact that her execution was postponed because she is black and there was only one black on the jury. Her execution was stopped for racial reasons.
What an arsshole judge to stop the excution of this murderer who had no mercy on an old lady.
Fry that bitch
She did the crime, was convicted for it and should pay the price imposed. She had done the same thing twice before, so it's not like it was just a fluke. She has lived for 16 years longer than her victim - enough is enough!
What the heck?
Crowded prisions, mostly black doing life for crimes that merit a death penalty; execute or send them back to Africa although none actually came from there it will be more punishment than life at our expense!!
When I lived in Galveston County, every time I reported for jury duty and folks went up requesting to be excused, who do you think most of them were?? Judge Morgan scolded several black business men and told them that a big percentage of those awaiting jury trails were black defendants. Perhaps, just perhaps this is the reason only one black was on this womans jury. Just a thought.
BLACK? For Krylon Out Loud! I sPray for That Jury!
Always the race card. That's why the black race will never progress. If the only tool they have is a hammer, every issue looks like nail. The average stay on death row is 17 years. That'a a real joke.... on the taxpayers who are paying to house and provide for these pieces of human garbage. Once convicted, there should be only one appeal allowed and be brought within one year. They lose that, the sentence should be carried out immediately. Our legal system is a joke. It treats murderer's and drunks better than others.
Yoo are right Bill anyone is almost better off to murder than jay walk.
There isn't a race that does not commit crimes. That has nothing to do with guilty or not. That race thing has been overplayed to the point of it being a joke.
Now this is the bullshxt of our legal system. Anyone that thinks America has a great legal system is only kidding themselves. People become victims because of criminals. Then judges feel they should get a turn to also victimize them or there families.
Aaah yes the race card rises again and again and again.
She was tried twice and found guilty much less they didn't try her on the other murders she committed since they got the death penalty....this is complete bullcrap.
I hope that skank lawyer from UT that had this put on hold can live with herself, obviously she has never had a family member brutalized and murdered. D bags lawyers like her will do anything to get recognition.