Texas to execute a woman, first in US since 2010

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Texas to execute a woman, first in US since 2010

(AFP) – 8 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Kimberly McCarthy is set to become the first woman executed in the United States since 2010 on Tuesday after being condemned to death in Texas for murdering an elderly woman during a robbery.

McCarthy, 51, is black. Her victim, 70-year-old retired professor Dorothy Booth, was white.

McCarthy -- who has been on death row for 14 years -- is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm (2300 GMT) Tuesday after the US Supreme Court rejected her final appeal, prison officials said.

She will be just the 13th woman executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCzfNX5EyDYLpo3SJAuEC8cKVhDA?docId=CNG.27e63b12fc1e499b95c530f711136779.461

[Judi Lynn]

1. Texas Murderer Kimberly McCarthy To Face Rare Female Execution On Tuesday

Texas Murderer Kimberly McCarthy To Face Rare Female Execution On Tuesday
BY Connor Sheets | January 28 2013 5:19 PM

Kimberly McCarthy will become the first victim of a rare female U.S. execution in more than two years if she gets a lethal injection Tuesday in Texas as planned.

~snip~
KXAN News reported that on Jan. 7 the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a request to review McCarthy's case, leaving no chance for her to avoid the death penalty beyond the unlikely possibility of a last-minute stay from Gov. Rick Perry.

A number of anti-death penalty groups have mobilized in the hope of getting McCarthy's death sentence overturned, but they were unsuccessful.

More than 1,600 people signed a Change.org petition aimed at stopping McCarthy's execution, stating that her addiction to crack cocaine led her to commit vile acts that she "she lives with daily and is deeply remorseful for."

More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/texas-murderer-kimberly-mccarthy-face-rare-female-execution-tuesday-1044052

[JI7]

2. are there other countries on "our level" that execute people ?

[Fearless]

5. Yes, but you don't want to know what that "level" entails.

It's not pretty.

[JI7]

3. i just checked out the World Map on Death Penalty on Wiki

we are in great company there

[Judi Lynn]

4. So glad you've added this. Overwhelming. A real beacon of human rights, aren't we? Thank you. n/t

[lunatica]

7. I never realized Japan has the death penalty

Or that Australia has abolished it. And South Africa, and Argentina. And Russia hasn't used it in the last 10 years.

Great map! Thanks for posting it.

[iandhr]

18. I think amnesty international uses the term...

"Abolished in practice" When a country hasn't used it in 10 years. Because they have a death penalty law still on the books.

[Godhumor]

25. Japan has a very interesting way of dealing with the death penalty

Once someone is sentenced to death there is, for lack of a better phrase, an information embargo. No updates are given to news outlets, no public hearings, no lawyers making statements to the media...the sentenced just disappears from the public eye. The next public statement made in the case is after the execution occurs and is usually a very brief "He/she was executed at such and such time."

It is not a widely discussed topic.

[hack89]

27. Japan has executed 91 prisoners since 1993

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Japan#Executions_since_1993

[joshcryer]

44. They hang them, too, which I was shocked to learn.

It's really weird for how far developed they are.

[SwissTony]

45. Different states in Australia abolished it at different times

Queensland was the first to do so in 1922. New South Wales did not abolish it until 1985 but hadn't actually executed anyone since 1940. All other states except Queensland ans the ACT executed people after 1940 but abolished it before NSW.

[madrchsod]

9. illinois abolished the death penalty

the map is a bit misleading.

[Nye Bevan]

16. Well, there is a Federal death penalty.

If you commit a Federal crime in any state, including Illinois, you could still be executed.

[iandhr]

17. 14 US states have no death penalty

[lunatica]

29. I think the map is about countries, not states or territories within the countries

I would expect a map only of the US to show each State.

[question everything]

21. Israel does not have the death penatly

the only point of light in the whole middle east.

Since independence, it executed only once - Adolph Eichmann.

[happyslug]

48. They just assassinate them instead

Called ""extrajudicial punishment," "selective targeting," or "long-range hot pursuit""

http://www.meforum.org/515/the-logic-of-israels-targeted-killing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targeted_killing#Use_by_the_Israeli_Government

I have NOT heard this about any other country that has abolished the Death Penalty or has NOT exercise the Death Penalty but it is a constant story out of Israel (and out of the US, but the US still has the Death Penalty).

[question everything]

51. Of course there are constant stories from Israel

it has a free press that reports and opines on everything.

I find it interesting that DUers don't care about atrocious acts in Syria, Egypt, the Congo, Chechnya, Iran, so many areas of the world, but any cry - true or false - from Israel get everyone here in a tizzy.

Why, is it OK for Arabs or Africans to torture and murder their own, and, of course, not to have free press, but not for, oh, white western (mostly) Israeli to defend themselves against Palestinians.

[pipoman]

6. Mixed feelings

not knowing the specifics of this case, there are some crimes which are so heinous that death seems the sensible punishment. Should victim's families have some input?

[lunatica]

8. I find it much easier to think that the government is committing a heinous crime

when putting someone to death for the crime of putting someone to death. Perhaps we should think that the State really should live by its own standards of decency and by its own laws.

If something is a crime when an individual does it shouldn't it be a crime when the government does it?

[onenote]

10. not everything that is a crime when an individual does it should be a crime when the govt does it

I am opposed to the death penalty. But your question doesn't make a lot of sense. Presumably, you are not opposed to imprisoning those found guilty of various crimes even though if you and I "arrested" someone we suspected of committing a crime, held a "trial", and then locked them away in your basement, it would be, and should be, a crime.

[lunatica]

12. Because it's against the law to do so

I wasn't talking about anarchy. I was talking about laws. It should be against the law to kill anyone. Especially when it's premeditated as it is when the State does it.

[msanthrope]

15. But that's a simplistic approach--of course it is against the law to kill, but what about

killing in the time of war? Justifiable homicide?

The fact is that we have always found some killings acceptable, and some not.

The death penalty is a killing that we have almost always found acceptable. The trick to ending the death penalty is to make it an unacceptable option.

How do you make the death penalty unacceptable? You make it unworkable. And you make it unworkable by showing that it can not be done fairly, efficiently, and well.

[lunatica]

28. I also think war is fundamentally a crime

and yes. You make it unacceptable.

[Major Nikon]

13. Perhaps not everything, but the death penalty isn't a bad place to start

Reasonable doubt is not an absolute standard. Juries and judges are not infallible. Law enforcement is not free of corruption. As such is stands to reason that our justice system can and has executed innocent people. I think it makes a bit of sense to question the morality of that response as this would not apply equally to other punishments.

[pipoman]

35. I view it more akin to

self defense. We are not talking about an innocent bystander who was victimized. OTOH, there have been cases I am sure of innocent people being wrongly convicted. This is why I'm torn. I have professionally interviewed quite a few convicted felons including murderers and worse..it is the worse I am thinking of..some things can never be forgiven..some people can never be trusted with freedom, others can never be trusted among humanity.

[Cal33]

14. That is still pandering to vengeance.

[msanthrope]

30. Do not underestimate the need for vengeance in a society.

I'm not saying it's right--I'm saying it is there.

[Cal33]

31. I'm not underestimating the powerful urge for vengeance. The vendettas of Southern Europe and

the clan wars of Northern Europe (Scotland) have lasted for generations,
sometimes even for centuries. This was giving in to one's most primitive
drives. Most of European countries have banned the death penalty since the
middle of the last century. We had it banned in 1962 (I think), but
re-instituted it in 1976 -- mainly at the insistence of the Republicans.
They seem to have less self-control and enjoy killing more.

I think Republicans give in to their primitive drives more readily than
Democrats do. Just look at the behavior of the corporate executives,
Neocons, and more recently the Teabaggers.

[pipoman]

36. Some people can never be trusted to

live among humanity. Should innocent people be in jeopardy for the making of an error when we know what someone is capable of? How many fellow inmates and staff should we allow one person to hurt or kill before the problem is addressed in a way to preclude future victimization? I'm not saying this is so in this case, it is in other cases.

[Cal33]

41. It's difficult for people in prisons to commit further crimes. Let me

bring up the case of Gov. Ryan of IL. Around the year
2000 there were 23 prisoners on death-row in IL. DNA
testing was rather new at that time, and Ryan ordered
all 23 of them to be tested.

It turned out that 12 of them were proven innocent. That's
more than half!! Ryan, who was a Republican by the way,
immediately stopped all further executions until further
study of the issue of the death sentence. Today, Illinois
is one of the states where capital punishment no longer
exists -- thanks to Gov. Ryan.

The death sentence is so final and permanent. I'm not
saying that half of all sentences are mistakes, but there
sure are many, many mistakes. Big time criminals know
how to make it look as though their crimes were committed
by someone else.

Another reason is that this form of punishment is brutal.
If the criminal has been brutal, it doesn't mean that the
government should be equally brutal with him. Two wrongs
don't make a right.

Not too long ago criminals were put to death by slow torture
and in a public place, often outside a church or cathedral.
Everybody came to watch -- the nobility as well as the
poor. And as far as the poor were concerned, it was the
only "entertainment' they had. Sadism was encouraged.

We have come away from those days, and we should stay
away!

[pipoman]

42. The realities

of prison life is that the inside is a criminal enterprise. Staff and other inmates are victimized with some regularity in maximum security facilities. There aren't that many people who fit this definition of "someone who can't be trusted with humanity", are few and far between, but they do exist. There are people today in prisons across America who have repeatedly murdered and/or victimized while incarcerated and while free..these are the people who should be subject to death if anyone should..

[Cal33]

49. What you say is true. At least there is a chance, however slight, of correcting the situation. But

once an innocent person has been executed, there is no way of bringing him/her back
to life.

By the way, I first heard of private prisons only a few years ago. Such a thing should
never have existed. It is sheer greed and evil. The prison owners use the inmates
for profit because of enforced free labor. No doubt the owners are sociopaths devoid
of all conscience. Yes, they should be the prisoners, and not prison owners.

How could such a thing have come into being?! And it's official!

[msanthrope]

11. She's a serial killer, up for execution. No way she gets a pardon. I don't believe in the death

penalty, but this case would get a capital charge and conviction, every time.

[Botany]

19. She killed 3 women ages 71 to 85

I am anti death penalty .... it costs too much, it takes too long, and the
legal help those who are charged w/ capital crimes get sometimes is questionable
but as long as it is on the books this is a time for it.

[msanthrope]

20. Indeed, she targeted friends of her mother, and her neighbor. She cut the ring off

one victim--while she was still alive.

These were shocking killings. I am not surprised she got the death penalty in Texas, although I don't support the use of the death penalty.

[Cal33]

32. Doesn't this suggest that she was crazy?

[msanthrope]

33. No. nt

[olddad56]

22. at lest she won't have to live in Texas any longer. I would choose death over Texas.

[Sunlei]

26. Texas is a horrible state to live in, at the local level politicans are so corrupt.

It's a shame in America so many of the most local of BIG gov. local people!! are unregulated, good old boy /w their peers, and get away with such freedom breaking corruptions.

[Paladin]

38. This Texan Is Gratified By Your Choice. (nt)

[olddad56]

46. as you should be. I'm equally gratified that you don't live in the US.

[Paladin]

47. So I Can Quit Preparing My U.S. Income Tax Return? Hey, Thanks!

I'll just tell the IRS that you said it was OK to do so.

I hope your life is illuminated by something more enlightened than your brain-dead hatred of my state.

[olddad56]

50. sure, why don't you do that.

[question everything]

23. Did Perry chuckle when denied a clemency, the way Bush did?

(Don't remember the date, before he became a president, of course)

[Sunlei]

24. Perry along with Texas are angels of death. PAINT THAT ON YOUR FAMILY ROCK PERRY.

[dem in texas]

34. She was a piece of work

Went to neighbor asking to borrow a cup of sugar, the neighbor let her in and she tried to kill her. She chopped her fingers off while she was still alive to get her rings. Stole her car and took the rings to a pawn shop to sell for money for crack. It was alleged that she had killed several others in the same way.

I am against the death penalty most of the time, but when you have a person who preys on old weak people, they don't deserve to live.

[Auntie Bush]

37. However, after wednesday she'll never feel pain again, but if she got life without

parole she'd feel many, many more days of pain and anguish. Don't think she'd have many friends in prison.

[Botany]

39. Judge delayed the execution until april

http://www.policymic.com/mobile/articles/24382/kimberly-mccarthy-execution-postponed-to-april-will-she-be-the-first-woman-executed-in-the-u-s-in-over-2-years

[primavera]

40. It would be Texas

Does a week go by without them killing somebody?

[Brickbat]

43. UPDATE: She's gotten a reprieve until April to give the defense time to pursue an appeal on the

grounds that her jury was seated improperly by race.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57566523-504083/kimberly-mccarthy-update-reprieve-for-texas-convict-scheduled-to-be-first-woman-executed-since-2010/