OFFICER TESTIFIES SUSPECT OFFERED TRUTH FOR DRUGS

Defense lawyer questions story in slaying case

Kimberly McCarthy told a police officer that she would tell the truth
about an elderly neighbor's slaying if she received the death penalty
and only in exchange for a rock of crack cocaine, the officer
testified Friday.

Ms. McCarthy, who is being tried in a capital murder case, gave police
a written statement saying that two drug dealers robbed Dr. Dorothy
Booth, 71, while Ms. McCarthy waited outside. But Ms. McCarthy then
said that parts of her statement were false, an officer testified Friday.

Dallas Police Detective Dwayne Bishop said Ms. McCarthy told him she
didn't want the death penalty if convicted in the killing but, if she
received it, she would tell the truth if given the cocaine, he said.

Defense attorney Doug Parks questioned that testimony.

"She may or may not have even said that," Mr. Parks said after the
testimony. "He [the detective] recorded everything else, but not that.
No notes, no recording, none of that. Officer Bishop is the only one
with knowledge of whether or not that really happened."

Prosecutors would not comment on the testimony but appeared pleased
after the detective finished.

The detective discussed Ms. McCarthy's jailhouse comments to him near
the end of his testimony, which completed the state's case. Ms.
McCarthy is the only suspect in the July 1997 stabbing death of Dr.
Booth, a retired college professor. She could face a death sentence or
life in prison if convicted.

Ms. McCarthy, 36, is also charged with capital murder and murder in
the December 1988 deaths of Jettie Lucas, 85, and Maggie Harding, 79,
both of Dallas.

Ms. McCarthy declined to take the stand Friday, and her attorneys
called only one witness on her behalf. Closing arguments are set for
Monday.

Assistant District Attorney George West questioned Detective Bishop
about inconsistencies between Ms. McCarthy's statement and evidence in
the case.

He also elicited testimony from the officer that according to Ms.
McCarthy's written account, she had plenty of time to call police
while the drug dealers robbed Dr. Booth. Ms. McCarthy said in her
statement that the drug dealers threatened her.

She also could have called police immediately afterward, Mr. West
said. In her statement, Ms. McCarthy said that after the men gave her
stolen property, they instructed her to drive Dr. Booth's car to
another street and wait for them. After waiting three to five minutes,
she said, she drove off with everything and went to a drug house.

Mr. West had the investigator count off three and then five minutes as
jurors watched the clock.

The officer also testified that Ms. McCarthy couldn't give authorities
any details to prove the men even existed. She's the only person who
ever sold or was found with Dr. Booth's stolen belongings, the officer
said.

Defense attorney Brad Lollar said later that it's common that a drug
user wouldn't know details, such as the last names, of drug dealers.
Ms. McCarthy said in her statement that she'd met the dealers, whom
she identified only as "Kilo" and "J.C.," a month before.

Max Courtney, a crime scene expert called by the defense, testified

that repeating marks and parallel lines seen in police photographs of
sugar and blood on Dr. Booth's floor may be consistent with footprints.

Prosecutors say Ms. McCarthy gained entrance to Dr. Booth's Lancaster
house under the pretense of borrowing sugar and immediately began
stabbing the woman before robbing her. Dr. Booth's left finger was
severed and her wedding ring stolen.

Mr. Courtney said it appears from the pictures that two types of
shoe-prints are shown. He said that the parallel markings could be
consistent with one pair of Ms. McCarthy's tennis shoes in evidence
but that another pair of her shoes were inconsistent with all the markings.

He said he couldn't exclude the possibility that two people other than
Ms. McCarthy might have killed Dr. Booth.

He also said that marks on a butcher block, where prosecutors allege
Dr. Booth's finger was severed, were inconsistent with the butcher
knife stained with Dr. Booth's blood that police found hidden in Ms.
McCarthy's house.

Mr. Courtney conceded on cross-examination by Assistant District
Attorney Greg Davis, the lead prosecutor, that the bloody butcher
block marks might have been placed there when Dr. Booth's ring finger
was severed.

He also conceded to Mr. Davis that if two people had taken part in the
attack, it would have been more likely that investigators would have
found hair and other trace evidence from them inside Dr. Booth's house.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady