SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Texas, the 'Undisputed Champion of Judicial Killings,' Set to Carry Out Milestone Execution
Lawyer: "Shameful errors that plague Ms. McCarthy’s case...reflect problems that are central to the administration of the death penalty as a whole"
Jun 26, 2013
On Wednesday, Texas is set to reach the "shameful milestone" of executing its 500th inmate since it reinstated in the death penalty in 1982.
52-year-old Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to die by lethal injection shortly after 6 PM in Huntsville, Texas after her lawyer exhausted all efforts to appeal the execution.
The Guardian's Ed Pilkington writes that it "will confirm Texas's dubious distinction of being the undisputed champion of judicial killings."
As Nick Chiles reports at the Atlanta Black Star:
Texas kills an average of one inmate every three weeks, a pace that makes it by far the most active state in the killing business. Of the 34 states that have the death penalty on the books, Texas has killed almost five times more people than the runner-up, Virginia, which has had 110 executions since the death penalty was federally reinstated in 1976.
Among the previous 499 inmates killed by Texas before this "shameful milestone," Amnesty International points out, "there have been prisoners suffering from severe mental illness or intellectual disability, and teenage defendants who had been provided with woefully inadequate legal representation."
In addition to being the 500th person to be executed in the state since the death penalty's reinstatement, Sadhbh Walshe writes,
McCarthy will also be the 185th black person. This is significant because it means that in a state where African Americans make up just 12.2% of the population, they account for around 37% of those who are executed. This is disturbing of itself, but all the more so because McCarthy's application for a stay was based on claims that her conviction and death sentence were the result of a process that was infected by racial discrimination.
Amnesty International explains:
McCarthy's death sentence was for the murder of a 71-year-old white neighbor Dorothy Booth, who was stabbed to death in 1997. At the 2002 trial - which was a retrial - the jury consisted of 11 white members and one person of color. At the jury selection, only four out of 64 prospective members of the jury were black, and three of these were dismissed by the prosecution - a decision which was never challenged by McCarthy's lawyer.
"The shameful errors that plague Ms. McCarthy's case--race bias, ineffective counsel and courts unwilling to exercise meaningful oversight of the system--reflect problems that are central to the administration of the death penalty as a whole," Maurie Levin, McCarthy's lawyer, said. "For this to be the emblem of Texas' 500th execution is something all Texans should be ashamed of."
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
On Wednesday, Texas is set to reach the "shameful milestone" of executing its 500th inmate since it reinstated in the death penalty in 1982.
52-year-old Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to die by lethal injection shortly after 6 PM in Huntsville, Texas after her lawyer exhausted all efforts to appeal the execution.
The Guardian's Ed Pilkington writes that it "will confirm Texas's dubious distinction of being the undisputed champion of judicial killings."
As Nick Chiles reports at the Atlanta Black Star:
Texas kills an average of one inmate every three weeks, a pace that makes it by far the most active state in the killing business. Of the 34 states that have the death penalty on the books, Texas has killed almost five times more people than the runner-up, Virginia, which has had 110 executions since the death penalty was federally reinstated in 1976.
Among the previous 499 inmates killed by Texas before this "shameful milestone," Amnesty International points out, "there have been prisoners suffering from severe mental illness or intellectual disability, and teenage defendants who had been provided with woefully inadequate legal representation."
In addition to being the 500th person to be executed in the state since the death penalty's reinstatement, Sadhbh Walshe writes,
McCarthy will also be the 185th black person. This is significant because it means that in a state where African Americans make up just 12.2% of the population, they account for around 37% of those who are executed. This is disturbing of itself, but all the more so because McCarthy's application for a stay was based on claims that her conviction and death sentence were the result of a process that was infected by racial discrimination.
Amnesty International explains:
McCarthy's death sentence was for the murder of a 71-year-old white neighbor Dorothy Booth, who was stabbed to death in 1997. At the 2002 trial - which was a retrial - the jury consisted of 11 white members and one person of color. At the jury selection, only four out of 64 prospective members of the jury were black, and three of these were dismissed by the prosecution - a decision which was never challenged by McCarthy's lawyer.
"The shameful errors that plague Ms. McCarthy's case--race bias, ineffective counsel and courts unwilling to exercise meaningful oversight of the system--reflect problems that are central to the administration of the death penalty as a whole," Maurie Levin, McCarthy's lawyer, said. "For this to be the emblem of Texas' 500th execution is something all Texans should be ashamed of."
_______________________
On Wednesday, Texas is set to reach the "shameful milestone" of executing its 500th inmate since it reinstated in the death penalty in 1982.
52-year-old Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to die by lethal injection shortly after 6 PM in Huntsville, Texas after her lawyer exhausted all efforts to appeal the execution.
The Guardian's Ed Pilkington writes that it "will confirm Texas's dubious distinction of being the undisputed champion of judicial killings."
As Nick Chiles reports at the Atlanta Black Star:
Texas kills an average of one inmate every three weeks, a pace that makes it by far the most active state in the killing business. Of the 34 states that have the death penalty on the books, Texas has killed almost five times more people than the runner-up, Virginia, which has had 110 executions since the death penalty was federally reinstated in 1976.
Among the previous 499 inmates killed by Texas before this "shameful milestone," Amnesty International points out, "there have been prisoners suffering from severe mental illness or intellectual disability, and teenage defendants who had been provided with woefully inadequate legal representation."
In addition to being the 500th person to be executed in the state since the death penalty's reinstatement, Sadhbh Walshe writes,
McCarthy will also be the 185th black person. This is significant because it means that in a state where African Americans make up just 12.2% of the population, they account for around 37% of those who are executed. This is disturbing of itself, but all the more so because McCarthy's application for a stay was based on claims that her conviction and death sentence were the result of a process that was infected by racial discrimination.
Amnesty International explains:
McCarthy's death sentence was for the murder of a 71-year-old white neighbor Dorothy Booth, who was stabbed to death in 1997. At the 2002 trial - which was a retrial - the jury consisted of 11 white members and one person of color. At the jury selection, only four out of 64 prospective members of the jury were black, and three of these were dismissed by the prosecution - a decision which was never challenged by McCarthy's lawyer.
"The shameful errors that plague Ms. McCarthy's case--race bias, ineffective counsel and courts unwilling to exercise meaningful oversight of the system--reflect problems that are central to the administration of the death penalty as a whole," Maurie Levin, McCarthy's lawyer, said. "For this to be the emblem of Texas' 500th execution is something all Texans should be ashamed of."
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy