In the British Grandma on Death Row specifically, sent March 22 at 9 p.m., Susannah Reid visits the 63-year-old in a high-security Texas prison where her grandmother has pleaded “not guilty” since her conviction – despite substantial evidence against her.
With access to police settlement and key witnesses Chris Robinson, Reid breaks down Linda Carty’s story.
Who’s Linda Carty?
Born on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, at that time a British colony, the Carty had British nationality.
In 1982, Linda emigrated to the United States to study pharmacology in the city, where she later committed her crimes. She was convicted in the early 1990s for car theft and imitation of an FBI agent.
To avoid punishment, the grandmother had to be on probation in exchange for a role as a drug informant. This deal was broken by their subsequent arrest on drug charges.
Why is Linda Carty on death row?
Susanna Reid explains in her new documentary how Linda is finally confronted with the execution.
She said: “The court heard that Linda orchestrated the abduction of her pregnant neighbor, Joana Rodriguez, equipped with scrubs and scissors, as she intended to cut out the baby.
“Linda did not know that Joana had her baby four days before. Joana and her little baby were abducted and Joana was strangled to death.
When Carty is killed, she will be the first woman to face the death penalty since Ruth Ellis was executed in 1955.
On May 16, 2001, Carty and three co-defendants were convicted of kidnapping 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez and her four-day-old son in Houston, Texas.
Rodriguez was strangled after being tied up and put in the trunk of a car, officials said. Her son, Ray, was discovered late in the night in another car and returned to his father.
Police suspected Carte was pregnant after her claims she did not look like that.
Carty was sentenced to death while her co-defendants Chris Robinson, Gerald Anderson and Carlos Williams were sentenced to long prison terms.
What is the judgment?
Linda wanted to keep the baby to herself after abducting and killing his mother, prosecutors have claimed – though Carty has always maintained her innocence.
Barrister Hugh Southey QC spent the last decade campaigning for the Carty release, claiming she had no high-quality representation in the murder process.
The validity of the witnesses who testified against Linda during her trial was questioned as to what complicated this case, while all appeal applications were unsuccessful.
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