Texas Inmate To Become 1st U.S. Woman Executed In Nearly Three Years [PHOTOS]

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A Texas inmate is set to become the first woman executed in the U.S. since 2010. Kimberly McCarthy will become the 13th woman in the U.S. to be put to death and the fourth in the state of Texas since 1976. She will die tonight, via lethal injection.
McCarthy was sentenced to death in 1997 for robbing, beating, and fatally stabbing her 71-year-old neighbor, Dorothy Booth. A retired psychology professor, Booth agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar when she was attacked with a butcher knife. The attack took place in the town of Lancaster, 15 miles south of Dallas.

Prosecutors say McCarthy forced Booth’s had onto a chopping block to cut off her finger and steal her wedding ring. The now 51-year-old once worked as a nursing home therapist, and was addicted to crack. “I remember the pain and agony that poor woman lives through before McCarthy delivered the final stab wounds,” said former Dallas County assistant district attorney, Greg Davis.

After the murder, McCarthy stole Booth’s Mercedes, drove it to Dallas, and pawned the ring for $200 to buy drugs.

Booth’s death is one of three which McCarthy has been linked to. DNA evidence has tied her the 1998 death of 81-year-old Maggie Harding, stabbed and beaten with a meat tenderizer, and 85-year-old Jettie Lucas, who was stabbed and beaten with both sides of a claw hammer.

Her execution comes after the Supreme Court refused to review her case earlier in the month, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied a request for clemency.

According to lawyers for McCarthy, there was a racial aspect in the case since she is Black and all but one of 12 jurors were white. Her legal counsel reached out to Texas Gov. Rick Perry yesterday in hopes of being granted a 30-day reprieve.

Lead attorney for McCarthy, Doug Parks believes that her drug addiction is what led to the slaying. “I think when she’s off dope she’s probably a pretty great person,” he said. “I believe now, as I did then, that in the penitentiary, Kim would be absolutely no danger to anyone.”

McCarthy is the ex-wife of Aaron Michaels, founder of the New Black Panther Party. The couple separated before Booth’s murder, but he testified on McCarthy’s behalf during her trial. She is one of 10 women on death row in the state of Texas.

Click below to see a list of other women executed in the U.S. since 1976.

Velma Barfield

Barfield was convicted of six murders. She was first woman to be executed in the U.S. after the 1976 resumption of capitol punishment.

Karla Faye Tucker

Tucker hacked two people to death and became the first woman in Texas to be executed since 1863. She was put to death 14 years after her conviction.

Judy Beunoano

In 1984 Beunoano was convicted in the 1971 murder her husband, for insurance money. In 1980 she was convicted of murdering her son, and in 1983 convicted of the attempted murder of her fiancé. She is also believed to have participated in the murders of two other men.

Betty Lou Bates

Bates was convicted in 1983 of murdering her ex-husband. She claims that she was being abused, and pleaded not guilty, pegging the murders on her two children.

Christina Marie Riggs

In 1998 Riggs was convicted in the murders of her two preschool-aged children. She smothered both her son and daughter after failing at an attempt to poison and sedate them. Riggs pleaded not guilty for reason of insanity, and was executed at the age of 28.

Wanda Jean Allen

Allen was the first Black woman to be executed in the U.S. since 1954. She was sentenced to death in 1989 after she shot and killed her lover, Gloria Leathers, outside an Oklahoma City Police Station.

Lynda Lyon Block

Block was a literal genius, with a IQ of 162. She was convicted of murdering a man while her 9-year-old son was nearby. She was executed via electric chair in 2002.

Aileen Wuornos

Wuornos was a serial killer who took the lives of seven people. She was executed in 2002.

Frances Newton

Newton was convicted in the 1987 murders of her 23-year-old husband, her 7-year-old son, and 21-month-old daughter. All were shot with a .25 caliber pistol. She claimed that a drug dealer killed her family, and was executed via lethal injection in 2005.

Teresa Lewis

Prior to her execution in 2010, Lewis was the only woman on death row in the state of Virginia. She was convicted of arranging the murders of her husband and stepson for insurance money. She was the first woman in Virginia to die via lethal injection.