Texas Executes 500th Inmate Since Death Penalty Was Reinstated in 1982

Family believe justice has been done

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Family and friends of Dorothy Booth waited 16 years - enduring two trials and countless appeals - for the measure of closure that came Wednesday evening when the woman who brutally beat and fatally stabbed their loved one was executed for her crime.

Because Kimberly McCarthy's execution marked the 500th in Texas since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982, it drew increased attention from protesters and the media. But for Booth's loved ones, it was personal.

Comments

[SIV]

McCarthy, 52, was executed for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of Booth, a 71-year-old retired college psychology professor who was McCarthy's neighbor. Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife and candelabra at her home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas. Authorities say McCarthy cut off Booth's finger to remove the woman's wedding ring.

The "crime" is it took 16 years to execute McCarthy.16 days would be about right for a fair trial and swift hanging on the courthouse square.