Rare Female Execution, Kimberly McCarthy: Texas Murderer First Women Executed since 2010

Convicted murderer and former nursing home therapist, Kimberly McCarthy, will be the first woman executed in the United States since 2010. She is also 1 of 10 female inmates on death row in Texas but the only one with an execution date. The execution takes place this evening, January 29, and will be by lethal injection. 

In 1997, Kimberly McCarthy was brought to trial for robbing, beating and fatally stabbing Dorothy Booth, a 71-year-old retired college psychology professor and neighbor of McCarthy. The attack took place when McCarthy asked Booth if she could borrow a cup of sugar turning into a savage beating right out of a horror movie.

Her drug addiction was a main focus of the case and even a defense tactic taken by her attorney, Doug Parks. He believed her to be a good person when not abusing drugs. Unfortunately, during her trial, authorities linked McCarthy to two additional killings, thus ensuring her conviction and imprisonment. These murders were reminiscent in brutality to the Booth murder. She was immediately sent to death row.  

Despite a second trial and many attempts at appeals, McCarthy is still en route to execution tonight. One appeal brought up the fact that McCarthy, an African American woman, had a jury of mainly Caucasian peers. Her attorneys contacted Dallas County District Attorney, Craig Watkins, suggesting Texas adopt a law allowing appeals to be based on race but to no avail. All other attempts were denied after McCarthy exhausted the states appeal allowances.

The main attraction to this story is the amount of women compared to men executed in the United States. Since the United States Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume, there have only been 12 women executed in the country, making McCarthy the 13th. In the same time, over 1,300 men have been executed. Another factor is McCarthy's conviction in Texas, the busiest state when it comes to capital punishment. Considering her crimes, it is not hard to see why she was convicted but it is possible it could have been a different story in another state. And the same goes for the other women on death row (and anyone really, but that is a whole other topic in itself). Perhaps the execution statistics would be more drastic. Nonetheless, the execution of Kimberly McCarthy is still a milestone in the judiciary system and I am sure the same will be true the next time a woman is to be executed.