Death row woman ‘cannot give up hope of being free’

Death row Briton Linda Carty yesterday said she would not stop fighting for the truth until she proved her innocence.

Ms Carty, 51, could be given the lethal injection within weeks after the US Supreme Court refused to review a murder conviction campaigners said resulted from a “catastrophically-flawed” trial.

In a speech written for the opening of a life-size death row cell in central London yesterday, Ms Carty said: “As a mother and a grandmother, I cannot give up hope of being free to hug my grandchildren again.”

Ms Carty was convicted in 2002 over the kidnap and murder of Joana Rodriguez, who was seized alongside her four-day-old son by three men on May 16 2001.

The baby was later found unharmed in a car, but Ms Rodriguez was killed, having suffocated with duct-tape over her mouth and a plastic bag placed around her head.

Ms Carty’s speech launches an exhibition which runs to September 5 and includes a replica of her death row cell in the courtyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, central London.

“I am scared – sometimes I’m so scared I can’t even speak,” she said.

“My words alone can’t prove my innocence.

“That will require a fair trial and thorough examination of the evidence showing how and why I could never have committed the terrible crime of which I’ve been accused.

“But I can simply speak against murder itself.

“I believe that the truth will come out one day, that my innocence will be proven.

“But one day takes on a whole new meaning when you are staring death in the face. I haven’t got time on my side.

“Now all I can do is to ask for your mercy, your compassion and your grace.

“As an innocent woman, I will not stop fighting for the truth.”

A film of Ms Carty speaking about her imminent execution will play on a loop, and visitors will be encouraged to spend 15 minutes in the cell to write and post a letter in the cell post-box asking the Texas authorities to spare the British grandmother’s life.

Ms Carty claims she was framed over the murder by the men who carried out the abduction due to her earlier work as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Legal action charity Reprieve claim Ms Carty was given an incompetent defence lawyer during the original trial who, amongst other alleged failings, neglected to inform the British government so it could intervene on her behalf.

Documents filed with the Supreme Court accused the court-appointed trial counsel Jerry Guerinot of a “deplorable” trial performance.

Likewise, the Foreign Office complained of “ineffective counsel” in court filings it made under the last government in support of Ms Carty.

But in May, the US Supreme Court refused an application to review the murder conviction.

It means that Ms Carty could be executed unless the Governor of Texas intervenes.

She is currently being held in a Death Row prison in Gatesville, Texas.

Ms Carty was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts to parents from the British overseas territory of Anguilla, and holds a UK dependent territory passport.