"Texas woman's execution halted; DA won't appeal," is the AP report, via the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune.
Dallas County prosecutors say they aren't appealing a state judge's decision to halt the scheduled Tuesday evening execution of a Texas woman.
She would have been the first woman put to death in the U.S. since 2010.
State District Judge Larry Mitchell issued a reprieve for 51-year-old Kimberly McCarthy less than five hours before she could have been taken to the death chamber for the 1997 slaying of a neighbor.
Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Shelly Yeatts says McCarthy's execution date now is April 3.
McCarthy's lawyers contend the jury that convicted her of murder was improperly selected on the basis of race. McCarthy is black. Her jury was made up of 11 whites and one black person.
Reuters posts, "Texas judge postpones scheduled execution of woman," by Greg McCune.
A Texas judge postponed until April the execution of Kimberly McCarthy, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection later on Tuesday, to give lawyers more time to present evidence of racial discrimination in selection of the jury which convicted her.
McCarthy, who is African-American, would have been the first woman executed in the United States in more than two years.
And:
Her lawyers argued that only one of the 13 jurors selected in her trial was non-white, in a county which has a population 22.5 percent black.
Jordan Smith writes, "Judge postpones execution until April," for the Austin Chronicle.
A Dallas judge this afternoon halted the impending execution of Kimberly McCarthy, who would have been executed tonight. According to press reports, Judge Larry Mitchell has postponed the execution until April 3. The news comes on the heels of the report below on efforts to halt the execution pending further review of the case.
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