Texas Executes 500th Inmate, Kimberly McCarthy

Texas on Wednesday executed its 500th death row inmate, a woman named Kimberly McCarthy, 52. The execution was also the first for a female inmate in almost three years.

McCarthy was found guilty of stabbing her 71-year-old neighbor to death in 1997. The death row inmate was pronounced deceased at 6:37 pm CDT at a state prison in Huntsville, Texas.

After McCarthy killed Dorothy Booth in 1997, she cut off the victim’s ring finger, took the diamond ring on it, and pawned it. McCarthy’s execution was the 500th in the conservative southern state since it restored capital punishment in 1976.

She was also the eight person to be executed this year in Texas and the 18th in the United States. She was given the chance to make a final statement before the lethal injection process began. Kimberly McCarthy first thanked supporters, including a reverend and her attorney.

Then, the female inmate stated, “This is not a loss, this is a win. You know where I am going. I am going home to be with Jesus, keep the faith, I love ya’ll. Thank you, chaplain.”

Then, as the lethal combination of drugs took effect, department spokesman Jason Clark said that McCarthy’s final words were, “God is good.”

There have been 1,338 executions in the United States since capital punishment was restored. But only 13 of those have been women. Texas is the most active in using the death penalty, accounting for 40 percent of all executions in the nation. Virginia is a distant second with 110 executions.

Before Wednesday, McCarthy’s execution was delayed twice because of appeals by her lawyer, Maurie Levin. The lawyer questioned the possibility of racial motivation for McCarthy’s all-white jury. McCarthy was African-American. Before the inmate’s execution, lawyer Maurie Levin commented that the issues in McCarthy’s case “reflect problems that are central to the administration of the death penalty as a whole.”

Texas inmate Kimberly McCarthy’s execution was protested by about 30 death penalty opponents, who gathered outside the prison for a vigil.

[Image via CA Corrections]