Kimberly McCarthy execution postponed

originally by: Huff Post  
published: 29 January 2013

The first woman scheduled to be executed in the U.S. since 2010 won a reprieve Tuesday, mere hours before she was scheduled to be taken to the Texas death chamber.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell, in Dallas, rescheduled Kimberly McCarthy’s punishment for April 3 so lawyers for the former nursing home therapist could have more time to pursue an appeal focused on whether her predominantly white jury was improperly selected on the basis of race. McCarthy is black.

Dallas County prosecutors, who initially contested the motion to reschedule, chose to not appeal the ruling.

District Attorney Craig Watkins said the 60-day delay was “appropriate.” If no irregularities are discovered, he said he’d move forward with the execution.

“We want to make sure everything is done correctly,” he said.

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Posted by Kushi Amlak-Sakhu on 02/02/2013. Filed under Capital Punishment,Questionable Convictions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry