The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a request to block a woman’s execution this week, the Associated Press reports. Kimberly McCarthy’s execution would be the 500th in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. McCarthy contends black jurors were improperly excluded from her trial by Dallas County prosecutors and this wasn’t challenged by her lawyers.
The appeals court said it didn’t consider the merits of McCarthy’s appeal because she should have raised her claims previously. McCarthy, 52, would be the first woman put to death in the U.S. since 2010 if she is executed tomorrow.