Texas carries out 500th execution with Kimberly McCarthy
Source: CBS News
Texas marked a solemn moment in criminal justice Wednesday evening, executing its 500th inmate since it resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982. Kimberly McCarthy, who was put to death for the murder of her 71-year-old neighbor, was also the first woman executed in the U.S. in nearly three years.
McCarthy, 52, was executed for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of retired college psychology professor Dorothy Booth. 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 her wedding ring.
It was among three slayings linked to McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist who became addicted to crack cocaine.
She was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. CDT, 20 minutes after Texas prison officials began administering a single lethal dose of pentobarbital.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57591241/texas-carries-out-500th-execution-with-kimberly-mccarthy/
The victim, Dorothy Booth:
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onehandle
(51,122 posts)Rick Perry and George W. Bush let their killers off easily. And cost their citizens a lot of money.
Talk about soft on criminals and hard on taxpayers.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)
Trajan
(19,089 posts)you take her word on this?
Rod Walker
(187 posts)If anyone would be in a position to make a judgment on the which is a worse experience, life in prison or death, it would be them...
In any case, of course, it's not ultimately up to them...it's up to us, in the person of our legal system.
And in the case of McCarthy, I'm glad she's dead.
Trajan
(19,089 posts)I would expect you to say similar things during your stay ...
Right leaning "liberals" always say stuff like that here ...
When they are here, that is ...
Rod Walker
(187 posts)Since you knew in advance what I was going to say, you must already have a prepared response that actually addresses the point I made. I can only assume that you accidentally hit "Post my reply!" before you had the chance to type it.
I'm curious...what is your response that actually addresses the point I made in my last post?
Trajan
(19,089 posts)need I say more?
Revelling in death is a right wing pursuit ...
There is nothing further to add ....
Rod Walker
(187 posts)Oh well, have a nice evening.
Kingofalldems
(38,635 posts)Rod Walker
(187 posts)Are you?
Kingofalldems
(38,635 posts)So you would be for the death penalty for Mr Zimmerman I would assume.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)That would be the appropriate punishment, and I would want it to be swiftly carried out.
Judi Lynn
(161,071 posts)
Psephos
(8,032 posts)This is a discussion board. The free expression of different viewpoints is what constitutes a discussion.
History affords many horrifying examples of what happens when diversity of opinion is suppressed, and uniformity takes over.
cheapdate
(3,811 posts)I'm opposed to the death penalty. But if someone murdered my grandmother and then cut off her finger to take her wedding ring, then I believe I would probably kill that person myself if I could. And if the state wanted to execute that person, I certainly wouldn't stand in its way. But I oppose the death penalty. Because the justice system is imperfect.
Trajan
(19,089 posts)I will respond how, when, and IF I want to ....
If it were MY granny - I would demand life in prison ...
My objection ? ... OP is typical RW interloper ... We get thousands here every week ...
I'm done ...
oldhippie
(3,249 posts)So what I read above, you are opposed to the death penalty, except when you are for it. When you think it's OK with you, you would impose it yourself, or not stand in the way of the State.
But you oppose the death penalty?
Never mind. I'm sure I am just overly dense today.
cheapdate
(3,811 posts)I believe a life for a life is a fitting penalty for murder.
Provided that guilt is certain beyond all question. Provided that the act was deliberate, knowing, and unprovoked. Provided that the murderer is not a minor child or a person with significant mental disability or illness, etc., etc., etc.
Some people may forgive the murder of their husband, wife, son, daughter, etc.
That's a fine and possibly a noble outlook. I can accept that. I can also accept that some people may not forgive the murder of a loved one -- they may want a life for a life.
I don't know how I would react to the murder of a loved one of mine.
In a fictional, perfect world where the state could perfectly determine guilt or innocence in every case without exception, a life for a life would be a fitting penalty for murder. But in the real world, the justice system is, and always will be, imperfect. Judges, juries, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials are biased and imperfect. Evidence is not always clear. Trials are inconsistent. Witnesses are unreliable.
So, for those reasons I'm opposed to the death penalty. I'd like to see it abolished in all 50 states. Life without parole should be the maximum penalty that the state can impose.
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)Most, in fact, the majority of people here are anti-capital punishment.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)I'll stand with him...will you?
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)Sorry, just not into state sponsored killings. I hope we are too good for that someday.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)The State has reserved the power to kill, be it through capital punishment or war, for the entirety of history. It's not going to change anytime soon (to say the least) and to think it will is the height of naïveté.
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)Rod Walker
(187 posts)Th1onein
(8,514 posts)I hope it works out for you, but I don't think it will.
I hope being naive works out for you, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
See? Cynical.
Th1onein
(8,514 posts)Enjoy your cynical self there.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)What to do, what to do...?
And just think: It was so important to you that I know that you were ignoring me, that you had to declare it to me on a public message board!
HardTimes99
(2,049 posts)HardTimes99
(2,049 posts)abolish the DP. It's barbaric.
GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)It is fairly common for a suspect who has lots of evidence against him to plead guilty in an agreement to avoid the DP.
marble falls
(58,923 posts)I also believe that life without parole is the equivalent of a death penalty particularly since the life expectancy of a human falls drastically once they start serving 'life'. It seems to terribly racist, too. If it is such a great inhibitor of crime then why does Texas have such a high rate of violent crime as well as a high rate of execution. It just plain does not work.
Lasher
(27,832 posts)Kimberly McCarthy will never murder anyone again. That is an assured deterrent. She was a monster and it's a shame that it took 16 long years to rid ourselves of her.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)Monster, yes... But is the solution to ridding ourselves of monsters to also murder? That's what the state does in the name of everyone living in that state.
States rights to murder, versus states rights to protect from murderers... It's a pretty simple choice.
Lasher
(27,832 posts)So I guess you also disagree with him, at least on that account. So do I.
I respect your right to an opinion in this, but please tone down the hyperbole. Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being. Legal capital punishment is called an execution.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)You think what I said was that because I termed execution as murder? I can see a straight line between the two. However, when execution is legal in one state but not in another, I call the comparison you make as a spurious argument.
We can agree to disagree, but I'm calling BS on that one.
marble falls
(58,923 posts)Rod Walker
(187 posts)the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought
Kimberly McCarthy was killed tonight, but she was not murdered...by definition.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)Unless she was executed in the wrong state... 
Rod Walker
(187 posts)executed in exactly the right state.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)Just want to see what appears to be the correct punishment for her, according to you.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)She received the correct punishment, with one caveat: It took far too long to apply, she should have been executed years ago.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)I'll guarantee you that being dead is as good as never being seen, but you're not satisfied until they cease to be anything.
I'm glad I'm not like you.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)Obviously, they think life, even one behind bars, is worth living.
but you're not satisfied until they cease to be anything.
Quite so. I don't want murderers to get the slightest pleasure out of life, and the only way to ensure that is to execute them.
I'm glad I'm not like you.
Ah, but if you were like me you'd also be glad that you were like me. Take it from me...I'm like me, and I certainly am glad of it!
marble falls
(58,923 posts)Rod Walker
(187 posts)Kingofalldems
(38,635 posts)Rod Walker
(187 posts)
bobduca
(1,763 posts)You should have chosen a name like "Progressive Pro Death Penalty Gun Guy"
Rod Walker
(187 posts)
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)Some people just want other people dead, so they use the law to justify it.
When states decide not to have the death penalty, then that's law, too. Go figure... but not too long, as it's fruitless with capital punishment lovers.
someone else
(55 posts)The death penalty just expidites it, so I don't know if that is punishment or not.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)
Lasher
(27,832 posts)http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/murder?s=t
Execute: to inflict capital punishment on; put to death according to law.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/execute?s=t
You shouldn't redefine language based on what you think you see, unless you are willfully engaging in hyperbole. I'll let you look up that definition yourself if you are inclined.
840high
(17,196 posts)medical care for another 16 years to this monster. I'm glad she's gone.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)So, you could have been glad she was put away forever for less money. Is it not good enough unless she's dead, then?
Lasher
(27,832 posts)There's no good reason why it should have taken 17 years to bring this case to its conclusion.
bluedeathray
(511 posts)And research varies. Time costs are indeterminate on a systemic basis. There are many cheaper ways to proceed.
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001000
840high
(17,196 posts)with her being dead. Don't need a reason. If this happened to a family member - you bet I'd want her dead.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)Rod Walker
(187 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)justice should never be.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)Sometimes, such as in the case of the execution of this murderer, you get a twofer.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)in this matter. I cannot celebrate any death. Truth be told, cases of child molestation really test my anti-death penalty stance, but ultimately I never waver. I feel that the death penalty is nothing but achieving vengeance. That is just me.
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)No death penalty even for predators like McCarthey.
cheapdate
(3,811 posts)Provided that guilt is certain beyond all question. Provided that the act was deliberate, knowing, and unprovoked. Provided that the murderer is not a minor child or a person with significant mental disability or illness. Etc., etc., etc. But the justice system is, and always will be, imperfect. Judges, juries, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials are biased. In a fictional, perfect world where the state could perfectly determine guilt or innocence in every case without exception, a life for a life would be a fitting penalty for murder. But we live in the real world, and in the real world I oppose the death penalty and would like to see it abolished in all 50 states.
mokawanis
(4,455 posts)Capital punishment is a shameful and disgusting act. Killing people to make the point that killing people is wrong...pathetic.
JenniferJuniper
(4,518 posts)inspired by the judicial murder of Caryl Chessman in 1960.
Have you seen the iron lady's charms
Legs of steel, leather on her arms
Taking on a man to die
A life for a life, an eye for an eye
That's the iron lady in the chair
Stop the murder, deter the crimes away
Only killing shows that killing doesn't pay
Yes that's the kind of law it takes
Even though we make mistakes
And sometimes send the wrong man to the chair
In the death row waiting for their turn
No time to change, not a chance to learn
Waiting for someone to call
Say it's over after all
They won't have to face the justice of the chair
Just before they serve him one last meal
Shave his head, they ask him how he feels
Then the warden comes to say goodbye
Reporters come to watch him die
Watch him as he's strapped into the chair
And the chaplain, he reads the final prayer
Be brave my son, the Lord is waiting there
Oh murder is so wrong you see
Both the Bible and the courts agree
That the state's allowed to murder in the chair
In the courtroom, watch the balance of the scales
If the price is right, there's time for more appeals
The strings are pulled, the switch is stayed
The finest lawyers fees are paid
And a rich man never died upon the chair
Have you seen the iron lady's charms
Legs of steel, leather on her arms
Taking on a man to die
A life for a life, an eye for an eye
That's the iron lady in the chair
"The Iron Lady" Phil Ochs (of course)
mokawanis
(4,455 posts)Elllis Unit One (some of the lyrics)
Well, my Daddy used to talk
About them long nights at the walls
And how they used to strap ‘em in the chair
The kids down from the college
And they'd bring their beer 'n all
'N when the lights went out
A cheer rose in the air
Well, folks just got too civilized
Sparky's gatherin' dust
‘Cause no one wants to touch a smokin' gun
And since they got the injection
They don't mind as much, I guess
They just put ‘em down at Ellis Unit One
Well, I've seen ‘em fight like lions, boys
I've seen 'em go like lambs
And I've helped to drag ‘em
When they could not stand
And I've heard their mamas cryin'
When they heard that big door slam
And I've seen the victim's family holdin' hands
Last night I dreamed that I woke up
With straps across my chest
And something cold and black, pullin' through my lungs
‘N even Jesus couldn't save me though
I know He did his best
But He don't live on Ellis Unit One
JackN415
(924 posts)Last edited Fri Jun 28, 2013, 04:56 PM - Edit history (2)
who have suffered because the act of of evil, embodied in a human form. Humanity is not defined by the physical characteristics such as the shape of the skull, teeth, bones, soft tissues. It is defined by the brain functions that enable empathy and the inhibition of inflicting unnecessary pain on another human or any sentient being.
The lack of such a capability disqualifies any creature with a human form the quality of being human. If we choose not to dispose such a creature, we should banish them from human society, like we banish dangerous animals, a man-killer tiger, lion, and bear from our living environment. Let them live in their own habitat.
I suggest you try to get to know the family of the victims, her children, her grandchildren and empathize their pain, what they have endured the last 15 years because of this creature.
mokawanis
(4,455 posts)Killing the killer doesn't end the suffering of the victims loved ones. It may bring about the revenge they desire, and I understand why they desire that, but their loss remains.
I do feel empathy for the victims and their friends and families, but I am entrenched in my belief that capital punishment is wrong.
JackN415
(924 posts)Last edited Sat Jun 29, 2013, 12:00 PM - Edit history (1)
Labeling the execution as "revenge" is an attempt to use a highly simplistic linguistic connotation that in no way can capture the cathartic human experience to see that evil that has been torturing the victims' souls for years is finally gone.
At best, it is due to ignorance or the lack of the depth of the human experience, the abyss of pain and suffering when inflicted by such indescribable evil. At worst, it is evil in itself to denigrate the suffering of the victims.
Do you have children? do you love someone more than yourself? do you love your pets? Imaging now that an evil inflicted tremendous pain and suffering on your loved one. Your loved one is gone forever. Is it over? no, the pain persists in your soul, you won't rest until that evil is gone.
You believe in redemption? the evil may have a chance of it by spending the rest of its life to understand the pain that its action has brought upon the living victims and try to do its best to relieve that pain, including begging for forgiveness.
But no... These creatures are not human. Their brain function of empathy - the way you would feel the twinge in your heart, the swelling of tears in your eyes when you accidentally hurt your loved one - simply doesn't exist. They are not human. They are just biological creatures and if you don't want killing, if there is a wilderness sanctuary for them so that they shall never ever in contact with normal human beings again, then perhaps that is the solution.
But euthanizing these sociopathic creatures is the best solution. How many such creatures have you seen trying to seek out the living victims to seek forgiveness? to do all they can to heal their suffering?
Once you have lived through the human experience of being such a victim (directly or worse, indirectly as a survivor), which I never ever wish upon you, you should approach such an issue with the humility of your blessed and limited life experience of not having to go through.
mokawanis
(4,455 posts)After leading off with insulting language that assumes I'm somehow lacking in depth of human experience, when you know nothing about me, you then go on to describe sociopaths as less than human and call for them to be euthanized or banished to some sort of wilderness setting where they will encounter and interact only with other sociopaths. Sounds like Hunger Games from Hell.
Like I said, crazy talk.
MissMillie
(38,694 posts)In fact, more expensive than incarcerating a person for 40 years. (At least that's the last statistic I saw on it.)
JackN415
(924 posts)Booth and ask what this means to them.
Judi Lynn
(161,071 posts)USA: Texas must halt 'shameful' 500th execution
26 June 2013
Amnesty International is calling on the US state of Texas to halt its 500th execution since the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States of America in 1976. In what it describes as a “shameful milestone”, Kimberly McCarthy, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection in Huntsville at 6pm local time barring a stay of her execution. The 52-year-old African American woman was sentenced to death in 2002 for murder.
“Capital punishment in Texas has been arbitrary, biased and prone to error,” said Brian Evans, director of Amnesty International USA’s campaign to abolish the death penalty. “It is a profound and irreversible injustice. The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading, and a violation of the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he said.
The list of the 499 people put to death in Texas since 1976 includes prisoners suffering from severe mental illness or intellectual disability, teenage offenders and defendants who had been provided with woefully inadequate counsel when on trial for their lives. In several cases, executions went ahead despite convictions based on flawed or questionable evidence.
The lone star state of Texas has the deadly distinction of topping the US execution table, having carried out nearly 400 more executions than the second-highest offender, Virginia, with 110 since 1976. Although the number of executions in Texas is falling year on year, Brian Evans points to worrying trends.
More:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/usa-amnesty-calls-texas-halt-shameful-500th-execution-2013-06-26
alp227
(32,205 posts)Way to go Texas, you're keeping great company with that death penalty thing, with commie China, totalitarian North Korea, crazy sharia Iran, and a bunch of 3rd world hellholes the average Texan would shirvel up and die in.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)a bunch of pro death penalty trolls.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)Last I checked, he was in favor of the DP. Just sayin'.
IveWornAHundredPants
(237 posts)Other people like to form their own opinions. State administered death is creepy, and people who support it - you, Obama, who the fuck ever - are creeps, in that respect at least.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)then, yes, I would call him a dp troll. I do not worship our elected leaders, and am not afraid to disagree with them.
bobduca
(1,763 posts)Rod Walker
(187 posts)2012 Party Platform:
Supports the Death Penalty: Check.
Declares gun ownership to be an individual right: Check.
bobduca
(1,763 posts)Having to make common cause with people with your positions are why I dislike our worthless two party system.
Rod Walker
(187 posts)
bobduca
(1,763 posts)1% playing the 99% against each other... participating gives me the right to complain, and hey It beats giving up and letting people with your position poison all progress.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)-Gov. pRick "Goodhair" Perry, the same g-dd-mn day, as he called another special session to ram through the anti-choice atrocity that Wendy Davis blocked with her filibuster. 
dem in texas
(2,675 posts)I almost served on a jury for capital murder in Texas for a young man who drive the getaway car in a robbery, I was in the final pool, but was eliminated because of question that I asked Judge Manny Alvarez. The state was asking life in prison without parole. I asked the defendant's age. At that time, it was not permitted, to give that information to the jury. He looked so young and I was against sending a 16 year to prison for life (I later found out his age) just because they made a bad decision at such a young age, and it was his first offense.
But the McCarthy execution was another matter. She was a human predator, preying on helpless old people. There is not place for her in society. She has no contribution to make to society and only caused death and sorry to innocent victims and their families.
JackN415
(924 posts)A ruthless murderer is executed to bring a closure to the ordeal that the victim's family had suffered through 15 yrs or so. That life taken finally did something good.
MissMillie
(38,694 posts)Well, not so much ironic, I guess. Just irrational.
JackN415
(924 posts)Although I'm pro-choice, it is entirely rational trying to protect unborn, innocent lives who may or may not turnout to be evil.
On the other hands, evil does exist among us bearing the physical human form, but their brain is nothing like what makes us human, a species that can empathize the pain and suffering of the others.
it is the gene that helps us forming human society.
But deleterious genes do exist, like cancerous genes, heart-disease gene. The gene that causes dysfunction in the brain that enables our sense of empathy manifests itslef in many of these creatures. They have no conscience, no sense of pain of others and even find satisfaction to inflict it.
They are better off eradicated from human society.
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)life matters." ???