A death warrant has been issued for Kimberly McCarthy, a 51-year-old woman, by the State of Texas. Her scheduled execution date is June 26, 2013.
Execution Watch reports:
"Kimberly McCarthy is a former crack addict who was sentenced to death for the 1997 slaying of an elderly, Caucasian woman [her neighbor, Dorothy Booth, age 71], during a home robbery near Dallas. McCarthy is the former wife of New Black Panther Party founder Aaron Michaels, with whom she has a son. She is one of 10 women on Texas death row. She is the only woman with a scheduled execution. Three of the nearly 500 people Texas has put to death in the modern era have been women. The week before her scheduled execution of April 3, 2013, McCarthy's attorneys persuaded a judge to delay it until June 26.
State District Judge Larry Mitchell's action formalized an agreement . . . between Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins and McCarthy's attorney that McCarthy's punishment should be put off until the fate of death penalty-related bills now in the Texas Legislature are determined. Lawmakers are about halfway through their six-month session.
McCarthy's attorney, Maurie Levin, contends the jury in McCarthy's case was unfairly selected on the basis of race. [Of the 13 jurors selected in McCarthy's case, all were Caucasians except one.]"
A CBS news affiliate reports that DNA evidence linked McCarthy to Booth’s murder and the murders of two other women: Maggie Harding, 81, and Jettie Lucas, 85, who were not Caucasians. She was never tried on those other two cases. McCarthy is scheduled to become the 500th execution in Texas since the year 1976. DPIC reports that 1,089 of the 1,332 executions since 1976 were done in the South, where there is a church on nearly every corner: the Bible Belt.
McCarthy killed a trusting, elderly neighbor who she reportedly asked for a cup of sugar to gain entrance to her victim's home. While McCarthy was addicted to drugs, she preyed on helpless people. The same can be said of Kermit Gosnell, the abortionist who murdered newborn babies as they lay crying on his table after late-term abortions. Both McCarthy and Gosnell were black medical professionals who killed repeatedly. McCarthy was an occupational therapist, and Gosnell was a doctor. Gosnell did not face the death penalty, because he was a very wealthy man in Pennsylvania. She was a working class black woman in the South, whose ex-husband was connected to a radical political organization. Capital punishment sentences depend on who the defendant is in terms of his or her economic status, the region of the country the defendant lives in, the defendant's race, and the victims' race. Gosnell killed black babies, but McCarthy killed a white woman.
When health care professionals in Louisiana killed their patients during Katrina, none of them were even imprisoned. Many police officers have been filmed killing unarmed citizens, and they suffered no prosecution whatsoever. The same district attorneys who give persuasive arguments for the death penalty regarding some defendants generally withhold prosecution when police officers do violence, perhaps to help the city avoid liability for wrongful deaths the officers caused. It appears that some killers are excused from prosecution if such prosecution would expose the city to wrongful death litigation. Sincere outrage over murders would compel the same response to every murder, but that is not what happens. There exists great disparity in application of the law.
Who shares the blame that McCarthy was addicted to crack cocaine and became a desperate junkie looking for her next fix? There is reason to believe the CIA introduced crack, a highly addictive drug, into America, possibly to derail African Americans. Wikipedia reports, "The involvement of the United States
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in
cocaine trafficking in
Central America during the
Reagan Administration as part of the
Contra war in
Nicaragua has been the subject of several official and journalistic investigations since the mid-1980s." See
"CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the U.S."
An even more compelling reason to spare McCarthy and end capital punishment, especially in Bible Belt states like Texas, is that God forbids executions throughout the New Testament. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person" (Matthew 5:38). Capital punishment is incongruous with Christianity, yet most executions occur in the Bible Belt and are sanctioned by so-called Christians.
People who disregard commandments from Jesus might want to destroy a drug addicted murderer, but it is impossible now to kill that person. No murderer lives in McCarthy's cell. Kimberly McCarthy has been imprisoned for 15 years. She is drug-free and devoted to God. Texas has no opportunity at this point to "kill the heathen negress." Texas can only kill a vulnerable, repentant woman who prays for mercy, and reveal itself to be a heartless, vengeful heathen that is only interested in making its 500th execution in the modern DP race.
Nearly 2,000 people have signed the following petition to spare Kimberly McCarthy:
The family, friends and supporters of Kimberly McCarthy are petitioning Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in an effort to save Kimberly from being put to death by the State of Texas. Kimberly suffered from a severe addiction to crack cocaine in the 1990's, and her life went into a downward spiral into the underworld of drugs. Her association with the wrong people coupled with her out of control drug use became a lethal combination that led to tragedy.
Prior to her drug use, Kimberly had no criminal record and was in the field of helping and healing the sick as an occupational therapist. When she was introduced to drugs, her life took a dark and destructive turn that led to tragedy - a tragedy that she lives with daily for which she is deeply remorseful. Over the years, Kimberly's faith in God has strengthened. Her spirit and personality touch each and every person she encounters. We are asking that Kimberly's sentence be commuted. We ask that the State of Texas show mercy! Killing Kimberly will not bring the victim back. It will only create more suffering and heartache and another victim. She could be such a positive influence to others. God can use her to touch the lives of other women headed down the road to destruction.
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-execution-of-kimberly-mccarthy
Texas Moratorium Network carries information about bills the Texas House of Representatives is considering that could have impact on McCarthy's sentence:
Next Tuesday, April 16, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence will hear testimony on
HB 2458 that would prohibit seeking or imposing the death penalty on the basis of a person’s race.
Next Tuesday, the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will also hear testimony on
HB 189 by Rep. Dutton that would affect what is allowable testimony in death penalty cases.
(b) Testimony of an informant or of an alleged accomplice of the defendant is not admissible if the testimony is given in exchange for a grant or promise by the attorney representing the state or by another of immunity from prosecution, reduction of sentence, or any other form of leniency or special treatment. Article 38.14 does not apply to accomplice testimony described by this subsection.
(c) A statement against interest made by the defendant to a person who at the time of the alleged statement was in custody with or imprisoned or confined with the defendant is admissible only if the statement is corroborated by an electronic recording.
The justice system is more concerned about money than it is about justice. Therefore, effective anti-DP advocates should launch lawsuits after each execution if some cause for legal action can be found. Whether or not advocates win, the lawsuits will demand public attention to the state-sponsored murder long past the condemned person's death, and such litigation will increase the cost of conducting executions, which is already considerably more than life in prison without parole. If McCarthy is executed, sue the CIA for distributing drugs in African American communities in the first place. Sue on behalf of McCarthy, who was changed from a well adjusted, working mother into a crack addict, and sue on behalf of her victim, who would not have been murdered if not for McCarthy's crack cocaine habit.
More information is at the Texas Moratorium Network
http://www.texasmoratorium.org/archives/2343
If McCarthy is executed, she will be the first woman subjected to capital punishment in America since 2010. Death Penalty Information Center reports that 51 women have been executed in the United States since the year 1900. For more information, access "Women and the Death Penalty"
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/women-and-death-penalty
More information about racial issues regarding McCarthy's sentence is in this article by DPIC:
UPCOMING EXECUTION: Lawyers Request Reprieve Because of Racial Bias in Dallas County
Mary Neal
Davis-MacPhail Truth Committee
Timothy Johnson was acquitted of murder charges and released from prison in Georgia on December 5, twenty-nine years after being charged with a murder and robbery at a convenience store. Johnson had originally pled guilty to the crimes in exchange for the prosecution's agreement not to seek the death penalty. The Georgia Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2006 because he was not properly informed of his constitutional protection against self-incrimination and his right to confront witnesses against him. The jury deliberated for only about an hour before rendering the acquittal. His family greeted him upon his release. “My heart is overwhelmed for him,” said his uncle, Willie Wilson. “I’m just elated.”
