On Wednesday, Texas will reach a grim milestone: the state's 500th execution. Inmate Kimberly McCarthy, 52, will receive the lethal injection and will also become the first female in three years to be executed in the U.S. and the 13th woman since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume.
McCarthy was convicted of killing retired college professor Dorothy Booth, her 71-year-old neighbor, during a robbery in 1997. She used a butcher knife and candelabra to beat and fatally stab the victim. Evidence from the case showed that McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist, used the knife to severe Booth's finger to steal her wedding ring.
The inmate is also linked to two other slayings, and she's had her execution date pushed back twice this year. Her attorney, Maurie Levin, is trying to halt her execution again, contending black jurors were excluded from her trial by Dallas County prosecutors.
Levin said there has been a "pervasive influence of race in administration of the death penalty and the inadequacy of counsel, a longstanding issue here." Her client is among eight inmates scheduled for execution over the next four months. Still awaiting punishment in Texas are 282 convicted murderers.
The death penalty is on the books in 32 states. On average, Texas executes an inmate about every three weeks. The number of executions in this state outpaces the execution total in any other state.
Supreme Court rulings have now excluded mentally impaired people or those who were under 18 at the time of their crime. Legal battles continue over the lethal drugs used in the process, mental competence of inmates, professional competence of defense lawyers and sufficiency of evidence in light of DNA forensics technology.
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