Texas is the second largest state, behind only Alaska, and has the second largest population, behind only California. It ranks 29th in education and is an abysmal third from last in quality of health care. But there’s one category where Texas is Number One by a Country Mile: Executions.
1,338 Death Row inmates have been executed in the United States since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976. Texas, with 500 executions to its credit (discredit) has left the competition far behind. Virginia is a distant second with 110 executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.Of the 1,338 inmates legally executed, only 13 have been women.
On Wednesday, June26th, Kimberly McCarthy became number 500 when she received the lethal injunction at the state’s execution center in Huntsville, Texas. McCarthy had been convicted of killing Dorothy Booth and stealing her diamond ring.
Lisa Maria Garz of Reuters reports:
Texas on Wednesday executed by lethal injection a woman convicted of stabbing her elderly neighbor to death in 1997, the first U.S. execution of a woman in nearly three years, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.
Kimberly McCarthy, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. CDT at a Texas state prison in Huntsville, the department said. She was convicted of killing Dorothy Booth, 71, in 1997, cutting off her ring finger and stealing a diamond ring that she then pawned.
McCarthy is the 18th person executed in the United States so far this year and the eighth in Texas.
According to Murderpedia, McCarthy, 52, was executed for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of retired college psychology professor Dorothy Booth. Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife and candelabra at her home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas.
Two other slayings were attributed to McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist who became addicted to crack cocaine.
She was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. CDT, 20 minutes after Texas prison officials began administering a single lethal dose of pentobarbital.
People die in various ways and by all indication, Kimberly McCarthy died with the utmost bravery:
“This is not a loss. This is a win. You know where I’m going. I’m going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love you all,” she said, while looking toward her witnesses – her attorney, her spiritual adviser and her ex-husband, New Black Panther Party founder Aaron Michaels.
As the drug started to take effect, McCarthy said, “God is great,” before closing her eyes. She took hard, raspy, loud breaths for several seconds before becoming quiet. Then, her chest moved up and down for another minute before she stopped breathing.
Texas prison officials stated that in their eyes, it was just another execution. “We simply carried out the court’s order,” said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark.
There has been increased debate in recent years over wrongful convictions, and some states have halted death penalty executions entirely. 32 states still have the death penalty on the books.
In a prepared statement, Maurie Levin, McCarthy’s attorney, did not mince words:
“500 is 500 too many. I look forward to the day when we recognize that this pointless and barbaric practice, imposed almost exclusively on those who are poor and disproportionately on people of color, has no place in a civilized society.”
While the execution was being carried out, about 40 protesters gathered outside carrying signs saying “Death Penalty: Racist and Anti-Poor,” “Stop All Executions Now” and “Stop Killing to Stop Killings.” As the hour for the execution approached, protesters began chanting and sang the old Negro spiritual “Wade in the Water.”
McCarthy’s execution had been postponed twice by a county judge since January of this year in order to address appeals by her lawyer. Mr. Levin had raised questions about possible racial discrimination in the selection of the jury that convicted her. McCarthy is African-American.
According to Levin, the facts show that 11 of the 12 Dallas County jurors who convicted McCarthy were white. Numerous eligible non-white jurors were excluded from serving. This is not the first time that Dallas County has been accused of racial discrimination in jury selection.
It is noted that in 2005, “the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a black death-row inmate convicted in the county was entitled to a new trial because of strong evidence of racial bias in jury selection during his 1986 trial.”
McCarthy was first convicted for Ms. Booth’s murder in 1998.
However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned that conviction in 2001 because no lawyer was present when she was questioned, even though she had requested legal representation. She was convicted and again sentenced to death after a second jury trial in 2002.