Texas woman's execution halted; DA won't appeal (1 Viewer)

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tarekwood

Glad it's you !!
Texas woman's execution halted; DA won't appeal
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The first woman scheduled to be executed in the U.S. since 2010 won a reprieve Tuesday, mere hours before she was scheduled to be taken to the Texas death chamber.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell, in Dallas, rescheduled Kimberly McCarthy's punishment for April 3 so lawyers for the former nursing home therapist could have more time to pursue an appeal focused on whether her predominantly white jury was improperly selected on the basis of race. McCarthy is black.

Dallas County prosecutors, who initially contested the motion to reschedule, chose to not appeal the ruling.

District Attorney Craig Watkins said the 60-day delay was "appropriate." If no irregularities are discovered, he said he'd move forward with the execution.

"We want to make sure everything is done correctly," he said.

The 51-year-old McCarthy was convicted and sent to death row for the 1997 stabbing, beating and robbery of a 71-year-old neighbor. She learned of the reprieve less than five hours before she was scheduled for lethal injection, already in a small holding cell a few feet from the death chamber at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit.

"I'm happy right now over that," she told prison agency spokesman John Hurt. "There's still work to be done on my case."

Hurt said McCarthy was in good spirits and "didn't seem tense or nervous" even before she learned she would live.

A Dallas County jury convicted her of killing neighbor Dorothy Booth at the retired college psychology professor's home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas.

"We are very pleased that we will now have an opportunity to present evidence of discrimination in the selection of the jury that sentenced Kimberly McCarthy to death," said Maurie Levin, a University of Texas law professor and McCarthy's lawyer.

"Of the twelve jurors seated at trial, all were white, except one, and eligible non-white jurors were excluded from serving by the state. ... These facts must be understood in the context of the troubling and long-standing history of racial discrimination in jury selection in Dallas County, including at the time of Ms. McCarthy's trial," Levin said.

Investigators said Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife and candelabra. Booth's finger also was severed so McCarthy could take her wedding ring. It was among three slayings linked to McCarthy, who'd been addicted to crack cocaine.

McCarthy would have been the 13th woman executed in the U.S. and the fourth in Texas, the nation's busiest death penalty state, since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. In that same time period, more than 1,300 male inmates have been executed nationwide.

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 Oct. 1, and only 63 — 2 percent — were women.
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Ivan Drago

Internet Warrior
If I had killed a black woman and all but one of the jurors at my trial were black I would be a little perturbed by that too, especially if I was being tried in a state were racial tension is high.
 

tarekwood

Glad it's you !!
If I'm not mistaken didn't the state of Texas also do this to serial killer Henry Lee Lucas?
i guess that was because they criticized the Task Force for their questionable methods !!and because of that they had rejected the vast majority of Lucas's confessions !!
 

tarekwood

Glad it's you !!
If I had killed a black woman and all but one of the jurors at my trial were black I would be a little perturbed by that too, especially if I was being tried in a state were racial tension is high.

i agree but then wouldn't be just a chaos !! ,and every black convicted would look for black juries !! i say they're just buying time by stressing the racism bullshit !!
 
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Ivan Drago

Internet Warrior
i agree but then wouldn't be just a chaos !! ,and every black convicted would look for black juries !! i say they're just buying time by stressing the racism bullshit !!

And didn't the prosecution look for a white jury? it works both ways. Yes they are just stringing it out and that evil bitch is still going to die regardless, but her lawyer has a valid point in terms of the possibility of prejudice by the jury.
 

Airbornemama

Something Ironic...
This user was banned
I don't think I could handle getting that close to my execution date then have it delayed only to end up going through it all over again. It's gotta be mind bending, but if she killed that poor old woman then her ass deserves to fry.:eis:
 

tarekwood

Glad it's you !!
And didn't the prosecution look for a white jury? it works both ways. Yes they are just stringing it out and that evil bitch is still going to die regardless, but her lawyer has a valid point in terms of the possibility of prejudice by the jury.


texas Justice System is fucked up since forever and they still have racism issues ,that's right !! but that bitch cut off a 70 years old woman's finger to get her ring after killing her !! racism my ass !! fuckin greed lawyers collecting fees while others pay for that bitch's health care and ... since 97 !!
 
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Ivan Drago

Internet Warrior
texas Justice System is fucked up since forever and they still have racism issues ,that's right !! but that bitch cut off a 70 years old woman's finger to get her ring after killing her !! racism my ass !! fuckin greed lawyers collecting fees while others pay for that bitch's health care and ... since 97 !!

Her lawyers job is to keep the bitch alive for as long as possible so that is what he/she has done, she is as guilty as sin and deserves the chair not lethal injection but whilst any doubt remains she will remain alive, I wouldn't have needed my lawyer to point out the 11-1 white jury angle.
 

Psycho-killer

Forum Veteran
i guess that was because they criticized the Task Force for their questionable methods !!and because of that they had rejected the vast majority of Lucas's confessions !!
But he was already in prison. What I'm talking about was that Lucas was initally given the death penalty, then they changed it. If I am not mistaken, George W. Bush commuted his sentence to life.
 

tarekwood

Glad it's you !!
But he was already in prison. What I'm talking about was that Lucas was initally given the death penalty, then they changed it. If I am not mistaken, George W. Bush commuted his sentence to life.
yeah you're right !! death penalty was commuted to life in prison by George.W.B !! lucky bastard !!
 
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