{{Short description|American murderer (1961–2013)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = Kimberly McCarthy | image_name = Kimberly McCarthy.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date|1961|5|11}} | birth_place = Greenville, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|6|26|1961|5|11}} | death_place = Huntsville Unit, Texas, U.S. | apprehended = July 21, 1997 | conviction_penalty = Death (November 24, 1998 & November 1, 2002) | conviction_status = Executed by lethal injection | occupation = Occupational therapist, home health aide | spouse = Aaron Michaels (1993–1996; divorced) | children = 1 | conviction = Capital murder | beginyear = 1988 | endyear = 1997 | states = Texas | motive = To support her cocaine addiction | victims = 3 }}
'''Kimberly LaGayle McCarthy''' (May 11, 1961 – June 26, 2013) was an American death row inmate and serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of her neighbor, 71-year-old retired college professor Dorothy Booth, in her Lancaster, Texas (Dallas–Fort Worth area) home during a robbery. Blood DNA evidence linked her to the murders of two other elderly Texas women, for which she was never tried.<ref name="Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy Execution Set for January 29, 2013 in Texas">{{cite news|title=Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy Execution Set for January 29, 2013 in Texas|url=http://www.theforgivenessfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=988:kimberly-lagayle-mccarthy-execution-set-for-january-29-2013-in-texas&catid=40:general|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130705051440/http://www.theforgivenessfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=988:kimberly-lagayle-mccarthy-execution-set-for-january-29-2013-in-texas&catid=40:general|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-07-05}}</ref>
After her final federal appeal was denied in July 2012, McCarthy's execution date was set for January 29, 2013.<ref name="KIMBERLY MCCARTHY, FORMERLY TIED TO NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY, FACES EXECUTION TODAY IN TEXAS">{{cite news|title=KIMBERLY MCCARTHY, FORMERLY TIED TO NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY, FACES EXECUTION TODAY IN TEXAS|url=http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/01/29/kimberly-mccarthy-formerly-tied-to-new-black-panther-party-faces-execution-today-in-texas}}</ref> Two reprieves pushed her execution date to June 26, 2013.<ref name="Lancaster Woman’s Execution To Be Delayed">{{cite news |date=March 29, 2013 |title=Lancaster Woman's Execution To Be Delayed |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/watkins-agrees-to-delay-womans-execution/ |work=CBS}}</ref> McCarthy continued to proclaim her innocence, saying she was framed for the murder.<ref name="Texas woman set to die loses at US Supreme Court">{{cite news|title=Texas woman set to die loses at US Supreme Court|url=http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/texas-woman-set-to-die-loses-at-us-supreme-court|access-date=2013-04-16|archive-date=2013-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301040744/http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/texas-woman-set-to-die-loses-at-us-supreme-court|url-status=dead}}</ref>
On June 26, 2013, McCarthy was executed by the state of Texas by lethal injection, becoming the 500th person to be executed by the state of Texas by that method.
== Early life == McCarthy was born on May 11, 1961,<ref name="Case Summaries for Current Female Death Row Inmates">{{cite news|title=Case Summaries for Current Female Death Row Inmates|url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/case-summaries-current-female-death-row-inmates}}</ref> in Greenville, Texas.<ref name="Former Local Resident Facing Death Penalty">{{cite news|title=Former Local Resident Facing Death Penalty|url=http://ketr.org/post/former-local-resident-facing-death-penalty}}</ref> She worked as an occupational therapist in a nursing home. She was briefly married to Aaron Michaels, with whom she had one son. During her adult life, she developed an addiction to crack cocaine. In 1990, she was convicted of forgery,<ref name="Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy Execution Set for January 29, 2013 in Texas"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/dr_info/mccarthykimberly.html |title=Death Row Information |publisher=Tdcj.state.tx.us |date=1997-07-21 |access-date=2013-06-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209014604/http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/dr_info/mccarthykimberly.html |archive-date=2013-12-09 }}</ref> and also had convictions for prostitution and theft of services.<ref name="state1">{{cite web |url=https://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=4431 |title=Texas Attorney General |publisher=Oag.state.tx.us |access-date=2013-06-27 |archive-date=2013-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910025705/https://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=4431 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Crime == On July 21, 1997, McCarthy reportedly called her neighbor, former El Centro College psychology professor Dorothy Booth (May 14, 1926 – July 21, 1997), saying that she was on her way over to borrow some sugar.<ref name="Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy Execution Set for January 29, 2013 in Texas"/> Prosecutors later alleged that McCarthy's true intent was to rob Booth.<ref name="Former Local Resident Facing Death Penalty"/> After McCarthy arrived at Booth's home, she stabbed Booth five times with a butcher knife, beat her with a candelabrum, and cut off her finger to steal her diamond wedding ring. McCarthy then stole Booth's purse and Mercedes-Benz and pawned the diamond ring in order to buy crack cocaine.<ref name="Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy Execution Set for January 29, 2013 in Texas"/>
The day after Booth's murder, McCarthy was charged with murder. Evidence showed that McCarthy used Booth's credit cards at a liquor store and was in possession of Booth's driver's license. Booth's DNA was also found on the murder weapon, which police recovered from McCarthy's home.<ref name="Texas woman set to die loses at US Supreme Court"/>
In 1998, McCarthy was convicted by a Dallas County, Texas jury of murdering Booth. During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors presented blood DNA evidence linking McCarthy to the murders of two other elderly women in Dallas County in December 1988,<ref name="state1"/> 81-year-old Maggie Harding and 85-year-old Jettie Lucas, in order to purchase cocaine.<ref name="Kimberly Lagayle McCarthy Execution Set for January 29, 2013 in Texas"/> McCarthy was never charged with those murders. On November 24, 1998, McCarthy was sentenced to die by lethal injection for killing Booth.
McCarthy successfully appealed her conviction in 2001,<ref name="Texas woman set to die loses at US Supreme Court"/> but was later re-tried and re-sentenced to death on November 1, 2002.<ref name="Offender Information Details">{{cite news|title=Offender Information Details|url=http://offender.tdcj.state.tx.us/POSdb2/offenderDetail.action?sid=04277672|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505164228/http://offender.tdcj.state.tx.us/POSdb2/offenderDetail.action?sid=04277672|archive-date=2013-05-05}}</ref>
== Execution dates == [[File:Entrance to TDCJ Mountain View Unit.jpg|thumb|Mountain View Unit, where McCarthy was held on death row]] McCarthy's final federal appeal was denied in July 2012. Her attorneys filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, and it was denied in January 2013. Her execution date was initially set for January 29, 2013. Only hours before her lethal injection was scheduled to occur, she was granted a stay of execution.<ref name="Rare Female Execution Halted; Kimberly McCarthy Gets Reprieve Hours Before Scheduled Death">{{cite news|title=Rare Female Execution Halted; Kimberly McCarthy Gets Reprieve Hours Before Scheduled Death|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/rare-female-execution-halted-kimberly-mccarthy-gets-reprieve-hours-scheduled-death-1047144}}</ref> Her execution was next set for April 3, 2013. In late March, the Dallas County district attorney announced that the date had been moved to June 26, 2013.
==Death== [[File:HuntsvilleUnitHuntsvilleTX.jpg|thumb|Huntsville Unit, where McCarthy was executed]] McCarthy was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, on June 26, 2013.<ref name="state1"/> Her execution marked the 500th convicted killer to be executed by lethal injection in Texas (which averages one execution about every four weeks) since the death penalty resumed in the United States in 1976.<ref>{{cite web |last=Graczyk |first=Michael |date=2009-06-07 |title=Grim milestone: Texas set to execute 500th inmate |url=http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/grim-milestone-texas-set-to-execute-500th-inmate?ocid=ansnews11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630000411/http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/grim-milestone-texas-set-to-execute-500th-inmate?ocid=ansnews11 |archive-date=2013-06-30 |access-date=2013-06-27 |publisher=MSN News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> She was the first woman executed in the United States in almost three years.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-carries-out-500th-execution-with-kimberly-mccarthy/ "Texas carries out 500th execution with Kimberly McCarthy"], ''Associated Press'' at ''CBS News''. June 26, 2013; retrieved July 3, 2013.</ref>
She was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. CDT, 20 minutes after Texas prison officials began administering a single lethal dose of pentobarbital.<ref>{{cite news|author=Tom Dart in Huntsville, Texas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/27/texas-executes-500th-inmate-mccarthy|title=Kimberly McCarthy: Texas executes 500th inmate|publisher=Guardian|date=June 27, 2013|access-date=2013-06-27|location=London, UK}}</ref> Her last words were: "This is not a loss. This is a win. You know where I'm going. I'm going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love you all."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/27/texas-executes-500th-inmate-mccarthy|title=Kimberly McCarthy: Texas executes 500th Inmate|access-date=September 29, 2017|newspaper=The Guardian|date=June 27, 2013}}</ref>
She is buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery.
== See also == {{Portal|Texas|Biography|Law}} * Dorothy Williams (serial killer) * List of people executed in Texas, 2010–2019 * List of people executed in the United States in 2013 * List of serial killers in the United States * List of women executed in the United States since 1976
==References== <!--- See Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Kimberly}} Category:1961 births Category:2013 deaths Category:1997 murders in the United States Category:20th-century African-American women Category:21st-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American women Category:21st-century executions by Texas Category:21st-century executions of American people Category:American female serial killers Category:Executed African-American people Category:Executed American serial killers Category:Executed American women Category:Executed people from Texas Category:People convicted of murder by Texas Category:People executed by Texas by lethal injection Category:People from Greenville, Texas Category:Executed female serial killers Category:Violence against women in Texas Category:Serial killers from Texas Category:20th-century American murderers