US woman seeks last-minute death penalty reprieve

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Kimberly McCarthy, set on Tuesday to become the first woman executed in the United States since 2010, has sought a last-minute reprieve from the Texas governor.

McCarthy's lawyers asked Governor Rick Perry to issue a 30-day reprieve because of the racial bias they argued impacted the case.

McCarthy, 51, is black. Her victim, 70-year-old retired professor Dorothy Booth, was white.

"The unacceptable disparate impact of race on the administration of the death penalty in Texas has become increasingly well established," her lawyers wrote.