Kimberly McCarthy

TEXAS CARRIES OUT ITS 500TH EXECUTION SINCE 1982

June 26, 2013: Texas executed Kimberly McCarthy, 52, Black, its 500th inmate since it resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982.
McCarthy was also the 1st woman executed in the U.S. in nearly 3 years. McCarthy was sentenced in November 1998 for the July 21, 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of Dorothy Booth. Authorities say McCarthy cut off Booth's finger to remove her wedding ring.
It was among 3 slayings linked to McCarthy, a former nurse who became addicted to crack The sentence was reversed in 2001. McCarthy  was resentenced to death on November 1, 2002.
In a statement, Maurie Levin, McCarthy’s attorney, said “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.” Texas has carried out nearly 40 % of the more than 1,300 executions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.
The state's standing stems from its size as the nation's second-most populous state as well as its tradition of tough justice for killers. Outside the prison, about 40 protesters gathered, 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." A handful of counter-demonstrators who support the death penalty gathered in another area outside the prison Wednesday. Executions of women are infrequent.
McCarthy was the 13th woman put to death in the U.S. and the 4th in Texas since 1977.
DNA evidence also tied McCarthy to the December 1988 slayings of 81-year-old Maggie Harding and 85-year-old Jettie Lucas. Harding was stabbed and beaten with a meat tenderizer, while Lucas was beaten with a claw hammer and stabbed. McCarthy, who denied any involvement in the attacks, was indicted but not tried for those slayings.
McCarthy was the 8th Texas prisoner executed this year. She was among 10 women on death row in Texas, but the only one with an execution date.
McCarthy becomes the 500th inmate to be put to death in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. McCarthy becomes the 261st inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001.
McCarthy becomes the 18th inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1338th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, 26/06/2013)