Texas' highest criminal court Wednesday refused an appeal from an East Texas woman on death row for the slaying seven years ago of her developmentally disabled baby sitter.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected 15 claims raised by Kimberly Cargill, 50, of Whitehouse, who was convicted in Smith County in 2012 of causing the asphyxiation of 39-year-old Cherry Walker.
Ten of the claims in Cargill's appeal contended her trial lawyers were deficient for not presenting evidence that Walker died in June 2010 of an epilepsy-related seizure rather than homicidal violence. The court said three other claims were rejected because they should have been raised in an earlier appeal following her conviction and one was refused because it had been raised and rejected in that earlier appeal. The final claim argued attorneys handling the previous appeal were deficient for not arguing that an autopsy photo allowed into evidence was improper and prejudicial.
At her trial, prosecutors said Cargill was facing a child abuse investigation and that she had already lost custody of one of her two children. They argued she killed Walker to keep her from testifying at a custody hearing.
Walker's body was found on the side of a road in Smith County. It had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire, and an autopsy determined that she was asphyxiated.
Cargill testified at her trial that Walker suffered a seizure while she was driving Walker home after a pleasant dinner at a restaurant, and that she panicked and didn't act rationally. She said she set Walker's body on fire to eliminate any of her own DNA that may have been on the victim.
Cargill is one of six women on death row in Texas. She does not yet have an execution date and still may file appeals in the federal courts.
