DEATH row inmate and former teacher Linda Carty claims she was framed for the murder of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez.
Carty, 63, has always maintained her innocence while appealing her sentence to die by lethal injection.
Who is Linda Carty?
Once a primary school teacher, Linda Carty emigrated to the United States in 1982.
She was born in St Kitts on October 5, 1958, which was a British colony at the time, meaning she holds British citizenship.
In the early 90s, Carty was convicted of car theft and impersonating an FBI agent.
Carty was sentenced to 10 years on probation for her crimes, on the condition she worked as a drug informant.
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In February 2002, she was sentenced to death for the murder of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez.
She has remained on death row in Texas ever since, appealing her case multiple times.
Why is Linda Carty on death row?
On May 16, 2001, Rodriguez and her three-day-old baby were kidnapped from their home.
She was placed in the boot of a car, restrained with duct tape and had a plastic bag taped over her head.
Rodriguez died from suffocation while her baby was placed in a different car and survived.
There were two other victims who were beaten, duct taped and left at the house.
Carty became a suspect because she had told people she was going to have a baby, despite not appearing pregnant.
When police spoke to Carty, she told them her rented car and her daughter’s car might have been used in the crime and directed them to the vehicles. Her fingerprints were found in both cars.
They placed her under arrest and during the trial evidence was heard that she had told her husband she was expecting after they separated.
She told her husband on May 15, 2001, that she was going to have the baby the next day, but on the same day told someone else she had already given birth.
Carty had several phone calls logged to co-accused Gerald Anderson between 1.09am and 1.14am.
Carty claimed that she did not commit the crime and had been framed by the three co-accused men for her work as a drug informant.
When is Linda Carty due to be executed?
Currently, Carty is still awaiting an execution date and has put in many appeals against the conviction.
She was convicted of murder on February 19, 2002 and then sentenced to death by lethal injection a few days later.
Carty is the only British citizen currently on death row and if executed will be the first female British national put to death since 1955.
An automatic appeal was launched but rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2004.
Carty then appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and then the US Supreme Court where the British Government filed an amicus curiae brief.
An amicus brief in American law means an outside party can offer relevant alternative perspectives on a legal case.
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The British government contends that the US have breached international law obligations as they did not inform the UK’s consular officials of her arrest until after the trial had concluded.
She has been featured on many documentaries, and was interviewed by Susanna Reid in British Grandma On Death Row, which is airing on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, on ITV at 9pm.
