The state of Texas executed its 500th inmate since it resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982, USA Today reported. Kimberly McCarthy was put to death Wednesday evening for the murder of her 71-year-old neighbor. McCarthy was also the first woman executed in the U.S. in nearly three years. She was executed for the 1997 robbery, beating and stabbing death of retired psychology professor Dorothy Booth.
McCarthy's victim agreed to give her a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife and candelabra at her home, south of Texas. McCarthy also cut off Booth's finger to remove her wedding ring.
Booth's killing was among three linked to McCarthy, who had been a former nursing home therapist who soon became addicted to crack cocaine, according to news reports.
McCarthy was pronounced dead at 6:37 local time. Texas prison officials administered a single lethal dose of pentobarbital, news reports said.
"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," McCarthy said in her final statement. "God is great," she added before before she died, USA Today reported.
As for the 500th execution in Texas, Booth's family and friends told reporters that they were not aware of the statistic, saying their focus had been on the brutal murder McCarthy committed to their loved one.
Five-hundred is "just a number. It doesn't really mean very much," said Randall Browning, Booth's godson. "'We're just thinking about the justice that was promised to us by the state of Texas."
Donna Aldred, Booth's daughter, read a statement to reporters that her mother "was an incredible person who was taken before her time."
"We simply carried out the court's order," said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark.
