Execution of Kimberly McCarthy Halted Until April

A woman scheduled to be executed in Texas Tuesday evening has gotten a reprieve from a state judge.

Kimberly McCarthy was to be the first woman put to death in the United States since 2010, but State District Judge Larry Mitchell halted the execution for now.

The 51-year-old McCarthy was convicted of murdering retired psychology professor Dorothy Booth, her 71-year-old neighbor in Lancaster, just south of Dallas in 1997.

Booth’s ring finger was reportedly cut off with a butcher knife to steal her wedding ring.

Evidence was also introduced in the punishment phase of McCarthy’s trial tying her to two similar murders around 10 years before.

Dallas County prosecutors have said that they do not plan to appeal the decision. McCarthy’s execution date has been moved to April 3^rd of 2013.

Attorneys for McCarthy, who is black, claim that the Dallas County jury that convicted her were improperly selected due to race, as it was composed of 11 white people and one black person.