Texas Executes 500th Prisoner Since 1976

Yesterday presented what some would view as a striking contradiction as Texas Governor proclaimed that Texas “values life” in pushing for a bill that would have imposed strict new regulations on abortion while the state marked its 500th execution with the death of Kimberly McCarthy. She is the 500th to die in Texas since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

McCarthy was a 52-year-old former occupational therapist who was convicted in 1997 of murdering her elderly neighbor, a retired professor, in a botched robbery.

Texas continues to lead the nation in executions though last year Texas executed more people than people sentenced to death for an eighth year in a row.

Here is the most striking statistic: just four states — Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Arizona — accounted for three quarters of all U.S. executions in 2012.

Source: CNN