*Update* Judge Mitchell has ordered a modification of McCarthy’s execution date to June 26, 2013. Read more from the Dallas Morning News.
On March 29, 2013, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins asked State District Judge Larry Mitchell to modify the execution date of Kimberly McCarthy. McCarthy had been scheduled to be executed next week on April 3, 2013 for the 1997 murder of Dorothy Booth in Dallas County. According to the Dallas Morning News (“Dallas County DA Craig Watkins asks judge to temporarily delay woman’s execution while bills pending before legislature,” March 29, 2013), Watkins asked “for the delay to await whether the Texas legislature passes six bills that could impact the application of the death penalty in Texas,” including legislation aimed at addressing claims that racial bias might have been a factor in the decision to seek or impose a sentence of death.
Earlier this year, Judge Mitchell halted and rescheduled a January 29, 2013 execution date for Kimberly McCarthy in order to give her attorneys more time to pursue an appeal based on racial discrimination in the jury selection process. According to attorney Maurie Levin, of the twelve jurors seated at trial, all were white, except one, and eligible non-white jurors were excluded from serving by the State.
A motion to move the execution date is still pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. According to the Dallas Morning News, “Mitchell said at the hearing that if the appellate court had not ruled by the end of the day Monday, he would issue and order moving the execution date” to June 26, 2013.
Read more from the Dallas Morning News. Read earlier posts about Kimberly McCarthy here and here.