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British grandmother loses death row appeal
Ben Bailey18 Sep 2009
A British grandmother on death row in the US has had her latest appeal turned down in a move that could see her executed by lethal injection within months.
Linda Carty, 50, was sentenced to death in 2002 for her part in the abduction and murder of a 25-year-old woman after a trial campaigners say was "catastrophically flawed".
She has always claimed she was framed for the crime due to her prior work helping put drug dealers behind bars. In the latest blow to her case, the fifth circuit court in New Orleans refused to overturn the jury's decision for her to be killed.
Failing a last chance appeal at the Supreme Court, Carty will be executed. This could take place as early as next summer, her lawyers have said.
Last week, she made an emotional plea to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the British public to intervene and help save her life.
In an interview given from the Mountain View Unit in Texas where she is awaiting execution, Carty said: "Texas doesn't care about clearing my name. It is going to have to come down to either the British Government, a Member of Parliament or a US Senator."
Asked if she thought the Prime Minister could exert more pressure on the US over her plight, she replied: "He has to. You cannot sit passively by and, because you have a good relationship with the US, say 'I don't want to rock the boat'.
"You are talking about someone's life here."
She added: "He has to get up and say 'I am not going to allow you to kill this lady'."
Her plea for support was broadcast from Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth last Thursday as supporters attempted to raise the profile of her plight.
Earlier this year, the Foreign Office intervened in the legal process, filing an amicus brief to the US Appeals Court complaining of lack of notification of the woman's original arrest in 2001 and "ineffective counsel".
Carty was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts to parents from the British overseas territory of Anguilla. She holds a UK dependent territory passport.
As such, her arrest should have been notified to the British Embassy under a long-standing agreement. But her state-appointed lawyer did not inform her of her right to seek assistance from the British consulate - one of a catalogue of errors, supporters claim.
She was convicted in connection with the kidnap and murder of Joana Rodriguez, who was seized, along with her four-day-old son, by three men on May 16, 2001.
The baby was later found unharmed in a car, but Rodriguez was found dead, having suffocated with duct-tape over her mouth and a plastic bag placed around her head.
Carty believes she was framed for the crime by the three men who carried out the abduction due to her earlier work as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
From the 1980s onwards, Carty, a former primary school teacher, was employed by the DEA to befriend suspected drug traffickers in order to get information out of them.
Her trial was marked by a series of mistakes from her state-appointed defence lawyer, including not notifying the British consulate and failure to object to key parts of the prosecution's case.
They note the court-appointed defence lawyer has seen 20 of his clients end up on death row - believed to be the highest of any defence lawyer in the US.
In the latest ruling, the fifth circuit court conceded Carty received inadequate defence, but refused to reverse the decision to execute her.
In a judgment, the court said her trial lawyer "performed objectively unreasonably" in his duty to defend his client but refused to reverse the jury's decision.
Her current lawyers will call on the fifth circuit to rehear their arguments. If that fails they will apply to the Supreme Court, which only considers a handful of cases every year.
Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve - the legal charity that assists in her case, said: "I'm afraid our worst fears have now been realised for Linda.
"Although she has recourse to the Supreme Court, experience suggests that she will soon be in Texas execution chamber.
"Linda Carty has been tragically and disastrously failed by her defence lawyer at trial, and by the US legal system."
Reader views (2)
The death penalty is a horrendous premeditated form of killing and has been responsible for taking innocent people it can never be acceptable in a civilized society.
- Irene Wells, Redditch, England., 13/10/2009 20:38
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I'm hearing complaints about procedural anomalies, but not much on the crime itself. It was a horrible crime and she was found guilty by the evidence, not because her arrest was not notified to the British consulate, and not because the lawyer didn't object to something she wanted him to with her 20/20 hindsight. If evidence can't be trusted to prove guilt then what can?
She worked for the DEA? And how many such people commit crimes themselves? NO ONE is a criminal until they commit a criminal act. She was found guilty of commiting such an act.
Personally, I'd rather see murderers locked away for life (as in, die in prison). She has yet to even demonstrate her innocence (having been found guilty, the onus of proof is on her).
- Rogan, Irving, 18/09/2009 16:56
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