Lawyer: Kimberly McCarthy's Execution Can't Be Stopped
HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - An attorney for a Dallas County woman set to die Wednesday says she has exhausted all efforts to block her execution, which would be the 500th in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982.
Kimberly McCarthy contends black jurors were improperly excluded from her trial by prosecutors and this wasn't challenged by her lawyers.
McCarthy was convicted of the grisly slaying and robbery of a 71-year-old neighbor, retired psychology professor Dorothy Booth, in 1997.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday declined to reconsider its denial a day earlier of McCarthy's request, saying the claims should have been raised previously.
Maurie Levin, McCarthy's attorney, says because the court's ruling focuses on procedural and not substantive issues, the case can't be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 52-year-old McCarthy also would be the first woman put to death in the U.S. since 2010.
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