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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
Leave a Comment:
They shouldn't execute her....they should force her to join the NRA with the rest of the chicken S**T military dodging cowards
She'd fit right in
Oh. You mean Clinton and Obama?
Anthony
Forgot Biden
Roc/Anthony
She probably shoots better and has more balls than the average NRA member
lol
unforgiven
And what would you know about balls or shooting besides your little trolls here?
As the cocktail of narcotics course through your veins you begin to wonder if what you did was worth it. As your eyelids get heavy and you feel your heart slow you think about that man in black noone sees but you. He is there to take you home. Where you will pay for eternity and feel the heat. Was it worth it?
The judgment hammer fell, time to execute. We should speed up the process for people like this who do these brutal crimes..
This woman has brutally murdered 3 people. (That we know of).
Lets set her free, then kill her with a missile from a drone.
Or...
Put her in a large empty parking lot....pour gasoline all over her....light her up and give the video to the familys of the people she murdered.
I'm not a huge fan for the death penalty but in some cases it's justified.
Just get on with it . Think more about the hurt she has caused the victims family's not to mention the victims them self's.
Racial discrimination? This woman commits a vicious murder and now, 16 years later they are saying she is being discriminated against because she is black? HaHaHa. Hang this cold-blooded bytch from the HIGHEST tree for all to see! Or fry her fat ass in the electric chair!
We should put these executions on HBO, they would draw millions.. would love to see this killer get her due.
Whether or not one believes in capital punishment,No matter if one think it is justice or not, anyone that thinks they will ENJOY seeing someone die is a very sick person. I was in Nam, I saw death to save ones own life...I did not enjoy it, and I am not proud of it.
ed, it has nothing to do with enjoying....it has to do with what the jury in texas decided....capital punishment! did the woman being murdered ask for a humane execution? did the woman beg for forgiveness when the bitch cut off her finger while she was still alive? did the bitch ask the woman if she still wanted to pursue life liberty and happiness? certainly not! this has nothing to do with Nam, it has to do with a cold blooded murderer who will get what is coming to her
I know, but I was just replying to the post above mine, where it was proposed to televise it because that person thinks he would love to see it. Unless he IS a very sick person, I guarantee you, he would not...I was not comparing war to what this person did, but I DO know what I am talking about Seeing someone die is not an enjoyable thing...take my word for it.
I know, I was in desert storm. BTW thank you for your service!
We all assume things, its human nature.. Ive seen lots of death in my day, I'm x special forces. I just have to think as we progressively move towards wanton human murder of each other we may want to televise it to cull the herd.. the killing isn't going to stop.. but there might be a way to turn the tide.. don't think id watch but you have to admit the TV stations would make a bucket of money. Bet we would get rampant audiences.. Thank you both for your service (seems we have all been in the hole).
aint that the truth comonsenz! God Bless!
She's had since 1997 to bring up complaints. No last minute antics.
I don't believe in Capital Punishment, but i will grant you this...if it is the law of the land, then so be it, it should be quick....
Deep fry this bitch. She is evil and cannot be a member of the society any more. She's as bad as all those people no one would argue should have been killed, like Nazi extermination camp guards, Hitler, etc., so what's the hesitation?
Oppsy poopsy....nucking figger deeds to nie
Is that the Obama phone lady?
How about we allow the entire gun toting psychologically challenged individuals to visit their local death row inmates? This will allow the mentally challenged to assert their aggressions and grievances, while ridding our legal system of all these pieces of trash that think they have a right to live! PROBLEM SOLVED! Hell, we should even provide the ammo...
A scphincter says PicNDazy....!!! WTF is your leftist liberal point? And saying it is your head might count, but not quite...!!!!
It's ok if you don't understand that I called you a pointy headed so and so......just so you know PicYourAssy...
When Hitler blamed every single bad thing in the world against the jews he was called insane and needed to be stopped. So when will black folk stop with the "I'm only in trouble because of evil whitey"? No black can be evil. Or a muderer. Or crackhead. It's ALL whitey's doing. I think black people have Hitler envy.
I just read this:
Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Shelly Yeatts says McCarthy's execution date now is April 3.
Her lawyer said she's such a nice person when she's not on drugs. Yeah, what a peach. Bludgeoned her first victim to death with a meat tenderizer, her second with a claw hammer (and she used BOTH sides) and chopped her third victim's finger off to steal her ring for drug money.
Now at the 11th hour, she wants to whine and cry that there was only one black jury member. Pity her fingers can't be chopped off before she gets sedated.
Neighbors said she was such a quiet person....LOL
Yeah, she never said a word while she was killing that woman.....
You DO know I was being sarcastc right?? They always say that about killers....LOL
@ Ed. Calm down, I was just playing on your theme with a little sarcasm too..... :)
10/4
The death penalty is no deterrent unless you put it on public display. Those Liberals saying locking them up for life is cheaper and more miserable, watch Gangland. Murderers run criminal empires on the outside from inside prisons. Shows the ignorance of Liberals. I do believe in some protections. I don't believe in the death penalty for circumstancial evidence. And as much as I do think Scott Peterson is guilty, if you can't produce a body....Death penalty should be reserved for not "reasonable doubt" standards but "absolutely no doubt" standards, but it should be in the arsenal, and then aired publicly. The death penalty will not be a detterrant if it is some blurb on page 20 of the news paper and is just about a needle putting someone to sleep.
Primetime TV electric chair would make for more of a deterrent.I know that will sound barbaric. But getting publicly executed, and the shame and humiliation that would come with it, would have more effect. Today's executions remind of an old original Star Trek episode when they play didgital war, and if you were labeled "dead" you reported to a nice clean incinterator, but when confronted by the real destructiveness of war, they negotiated peace. A stretch, but that is kind of what I am trying to draw to.
Good point r scott. remember the green mile when the old mans head caught fire? i will tel lyou this, that would be deterrent enough for me!
One movie, for a many reasons, I have never sat down and watched. It is on my list.
It's always argued that the death penalty does not deter crime, neither does a prison sentence. But! When you execute a convicted murderer you deter(defined-Prevent the occurrence of)that individual from ever being a repeat offender and committing anymore violent crimes against any future victims. That is why the death penalty is needed and required in a "civil society" I use that term loosely, the justice system owes it to citizens to remove the most uncivil/violent criminals from society so they can't harm anymore else.
Let's see if I understand this. This woman was convicted, the conviction was REVIEWED and her obvious "cop out" statemen twas ruled non-admissable. She was retried and convicted a second time. This time with out the cop out, but with all the other phyiscal evidence in the case. Since then there have been years of appeals where that conviction and all the evidence in the case withstood the scrutiny of the judical system. Now all of a sudden as her death sentence approaches, her defense team is attempting to claim racism? I'm glad this is Texas not California, because that bogus claim just might have worked.
@ Don - it's called grasping at straws. Apparently it works too. It seems they found a fool of a judge to listen to them. It' makes you wonder how anyone can not trust our Judicial system.
"Judge postpones Texas woman's execution"
There's some Affirmative Action for ya!
If it was an all black jury she would have gotten freed because she's black . Just like oj .
I believe they should bring back public hanging. This might be inhuman in todays society, but this will make crime rate drop to some degree if not significant knowing that this would happen to them instead of getting a lethal injection and taking the easy way out... gasping for life and suffering for what they have done. This should make you think twice before committing a heinous crime.
I think the focus needs to be on justice and punishment , if it turns out to be a deterrant then that should just be a bonus , not a requirement . Because the bleeding heart idiots just use that as an excuse- " it's been proven not to be a deterrant" .So what , the next guy didn't commit the crime , THIS guy did . Punishment pure and simple . The ahole who got offed will NEVER do it again . The left wingers are always trying to water down responsability . It's always someone elses fault .Then they wonder why society's going down the tubes .
Part of the problem for me is that I don't see it as punishment, or even much of a deterrent. Most kllings are crimes of passion, and in the moment, no rational thought about deterrent there. A lot more are done by crazy people, no rational though there either. Punishment doesn't cut it for me either, unless it IS drawn way out, and most here don't want that, so there is not much real puishment, you are just dead. if it WERE a better deterrent, or punishment, I might have a better acceptence of it, but it isn't, it is just us trying to rid the world of her. more about us than her really, and that's the part I have issues with....
Well I have to agree with you on one thing she should die as painfully as her victims .All 3 . I only feel for the victims .I don't give the slightest @!$%# about what this waste of skin goes through .
Just in from Texas, execution delayed until April, due to jury unfairness. WTF!! This POS does not deserve to breathe air one minute longer than midnight tonight. I am so sick of racism. There is no one more racist than a black person.
obama probably called ..
and said - 'Don King was right......'
Somedude, you may have a point there - see if this "judge" suddenly is up for a superior court appointment!
What is the Final Solution To The Negro Question?
And doesn't this also suggest that even the aggressive application of the death penalty in Texas over the past 35+ years, contrary to the popular argument, isn't serving as an effective deterrent?
Robert...That is why it it called Capital PUNISHMENT and not Capital DETERRENCE.
I would also like to point out that just because TX uses the death penalty the most does not mean it is innefective as a deterrant.
I live in MI. No death penalty. At least 3 city's in Michigan are on the top 10 list of murder capital cities in the nation. I know we hold the # 1 and #2 spot. Saginaw was #1 for like 15 or 20 yrs in a row. Detroit and Flint are on it. Seriously, wish we had the death penalty here.
OMG are you serious?!? this has nothing to do with discrimination THE LADY COMMITTED MURDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she deserves the death penalty
yup
guilty of the killing when evidence at the punishment phase of her trial tied her to two similar murders a decade earlier.
No sympathy. I don't give a damn what color the jurors were, she killed an old lady and likely did others in also, so she is a mass murderer who should die.