British woman Linda Carty has spent almost 20 years on death row in the US – and Susanna Reid finds out why in a new ITV1 documentary.
The Good Morning Britain presenter travels to Texas to meet grandmother Linda Carty in British Grandma on Death Row with Susanna Reid (Tuesday March 22 2022).
So why is Linda Carty on death row?
What was she convicted of, and is she guilty?
Here’s everything you need to know about Linda Carty, why she’s on death row, and her crimes.
***Warning: contains disturbing details of a brutal murder***
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Who is death row inmate Linda Carty?
Linda Carty is the only British woman on death row anywhere in the Western world.
She is a former primary school teacher, who was married to Jose Corona.
Linda Carty studied pharmacology at the University of Houston.
She was eventually arrested and found guilty for orchestrating a brutal kidnap-murder in May 2001.
How old is death row inmate Linda Carty now and where is she from?
Linda Anita Carty was born on October 05 1958 in Saint Kitts, an island in the West Indies.
She is currently 63 years of age.
Linda Carty holds British citizenship as St. Kitts was a British colony at the time of her birth.
She emigrated to the United States in 1982 and is a United States citizen.
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Why was Linda Carty a drug informant?
In 1992, Linda Carty was convicted of stealing a car and impersonating an FBI agent.
She was sentenced to 10 years probation, on the condition she worked as a drug informant for the police.
While working as an informant, she provided information leading to at least two arrests.
Her services came to an end when she was reportedly arrested on drug charges herself.
She believes her work as an informant for the police lead to her being set up for the abduction and murder of Joana Rodriguez.
Did Linda Carty orchestrate the murder of Joana Rodriguez and, if so, why?
Joana Rodriguez was a 25-year-old mum who had only recently given birth.
Linda Carty planned to steal Joana’s newborn son Ray.
A report by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said: “On May 16, 2001, Linda Carty and three co-defendants invaded a home and kidnapped a 25-year-old female and her newborn son.
“The victim subsequently died of suffocation, but the baby was found unharmed.”
Investigators suspected Linda Carty after they discovered she had told people she was going to have a baby despite not appearing to be pregnant.
Linda, who had suffered several miscarriages, had also bought a baby seat for her car and other baby items.
How was Linda Carty caught?
After interviewing the neighbours, police began to suspect Linda Carty of the abduction of Joana Rodriguez and her baby son.
Police telephoned Linda Carty and asked her to meet with them.
She told them that a car she had rented may have been used in the crime, as well as that of her daughter.
Police arrested Linda Carty.
Linda directed police officers to a location where both cars were found.
The baby boy Ray was found alive in one of the cars.
Sadly, the dead body of Joana Rodriguez was found in the back of the other.
Police officers found Joana hogtied in the boot of Linda’s car where she had died from suffocation.
Her arms were wrapped in duct tape, her nose and mouth taped closed and a plastic bag was found over her head.
Linda Carty’s fingerprints were in both cars.
Prosecutors later claimed that Linda was so desperate for a baby that she sought to kidnap Joana and keep baby Ray for herself.
What happened during Linda Carty’s trial?
During her trial, Carty’s co-accused placed the blame firmly at her door, claiming she was the mastermind behind the whole twisted scheme.
The jury heard that Linda Carty and her husband Jose Corona separated in early May 2001.
Shortly after, Linda told him she was pregnant with his child.
On the day before the murder of Joana Rodriguez, Linda Carty told her neighbour, Florence Meyers, that she was pregnant and that the baby was going to be born the next day.
Meyers testified that Carty did not appear to be pregnant.
Linda Carty also told her husband that she was going to have a baby boy the next day.
The victim’s husband testified that while the intruders were in his home, one of them answered his cell phone and said: “We are inside here. Do you want it?”
Then he shouted that “she” was outside and that they had to go.
The intruders left, taking the baby with them.
Carty’s cell phone records showed 11 calls between her phone and the number of co-defendant Gerald Anderson.
The court heard that Linda orchestrated the kidnap of her pregnant neighbour, Joana Rodriguez.
The prosecution said Linda was equipped with scrubs and scissors, as she intended to cut the baby out.
Linda didn’t know that Joana had already had her baby four days earlier.
Joana and her tiny baby boy were kidnapped and Joana was subsequently suffocated to death.
What was Linda Carty convicted of?
In February 19 2002, Linda Carty was convicted of abduction and murder.
She was found guilty of killing 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez the year before, on May 15 2001.
However, Linda Carty claimed she was framed by her co-defendants, who were drug dealers.
Linda had previously been an informant.
Linda continues to plead her innocence.
She has never moved from her stance of ‘not guilty’, despite the substantial evidence against her.
Lynn Hardaway, former Harris County Assistant District Attorney, recalls Linda’s conviction and says: “I don’t have any doubt she is guilty of this crime.
“All the evidence was consistent and had her as the ringleader and orchestrator of the whole offence.”
What was Linda Carty sentenced to?
In February 21 2002, Linda Carty was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
She has been awaiting execution for almost 20 years.
Linda Carty’s lawyers insist that she was unjustly sentenced to death for a murder that she did not commit.
They say that no scientific evidence establishes that Linda was at the scene of the crime – although her fingerprints were found in the car containing the victim’s body.
Linda Carty continues to claim that she was framed by three men – her co-defendants Gerald Anderson, Chris Robinson, and Carlos Williams.
They were all given prison terms but none received the death penalty because they testified against Linda Carty.
She said: “It was too difficult just to kill me, so they hatched this plot.”
Two of the co-defendants later testified that they had been coerced to testify against Linda.
Is death row inmate Linda Carty innocent?
Linda claims she had never met or spoken to her co-defendants.
She insists she was framed for the crime because of her work as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant.
Speaking The Sun Online in 2018, Linda said: “I am innocent and I would swear on my mum and my daughter’s life.
“That’s the only reason I’m fighting because if I had done this I would take my punishment.
“I know in my heart I didn’t do it, but I don’t have the resources.
“I didn’t have anybody to help me and that’s where I feel as though my government abandoned me because they should have been able to look at this case and look at all these discrepancies and see that there’s something wrong.”
Two of the co-defendants later testified that they had been coerced to testify against Linda – including Chris Robinson who said at trial he had seen Linda hold a plastic bag over the victim’s head.
Linda’s DEA handler Charles Matthis also testified that prosecutors had threatened to “invent” an affair between him and Linda – if he testified for her defence.
She also says that on the day of the murder she was staying in a hotel and had lent her car to a man named William Arvizu, the subject of a DEA investigation she claims she was working on.
“I didn’t even have my vehicle,” she insisted. “That is the bane of this entire miscarriage of justice because nobody bothered to find out why I didn’t have my vehicle.”
Years after her conviction, Charles Mathis – Linda Carty’s handler at the Drug Enforcement Agency – came forward to say he did not believe she was capable of committing the crime.
Linda Carty appeals
The imposition of a death sentence in Texas results in an automatic direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
This appeal was rejected on April 7 2004.
Linda Carty then appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
This appeal was also rejected on September 19 2009.
On 26 February 2010, Linda Carty appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the British government filed an amicus curiae brief.
However, on May 3 2010, the Court refused to review the case, denying certiorari.
Her most recent petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court on November 13 2018.
Barrister, Hugh Southey QC, has campaigned for Linda’s release for the last 10 years.
He says the convicted grandmother did not have sufficient, high-quality representation at the murder trial.
Why is Linda Carty on death row?
Linda Carty was sentenced to the death penalty.
However, 20 years later, she is still alive and in prison.
It’s a complicated case, and there are questions over Linda’s guilt and the validity of some the witnesses who testified against her at trial.
Some of their stories have changed since Linda’s conviction.
Linda is the only British citizen on death row in the United States.
If executed, she stands to become the first female British national to be put to death since Ruth Ellis in 1955, and the first British black woman executed in more than a century.
How long has Linda Carty been on death row?
Linda Carty has spent almost 20 years on death row.
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.
However, her state-appointed lawyer did not inform her of her right to seek assistance from the British consulate – one of a catalogue of errors, her supporters claim.
Where is Linda Carty now? Is she alive?
Linda is currently in the Mountain View Maximum Security prison in Texas.
She continues to maintain her innocence.
In 2020, Linda told the Telegraph: “I can truthfully say to you I did not commit this crime.”
She has plenty of support from those who believe she did not get a fair trial.
In 2009, Linda Carty appeared as a cardboard cutout on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square.
She ‘appeared’ at the London monument as part of the artist Antony Gormley’s One & Other Exhibition.
The platform was used to call on the British public and the government to intervene to help save her from lethal injection.
In the message, she said: “Time is now running out, and I appeal to every one of you and to the British government to please help me.
“I’m sorry if I sound like a desperate woman.
“I am desperate, because the British people may be my last hope.
“If they ask for my life to be spared, maybe Texas will listen.”
Celebrities like Bianca Jagger have supported the grandmother in her bid to avoid execution.
What does Linda Carty’s daughter say?
Linda Carty’s daughter Jovelle Joubert tells Susanna Reid of the struggles of awaiting her mother’s execution on death row.
She states she would NOT attend the execution of her mother.
Ms Carty Joubert has said in the past: “It is horrible.
“I have to see my mum in a cage and in shackles. I do not get any contact, I can’t hold her hand.”
She added that Carty’s two young grandchildren are prevented from visiting her under state law.
Referring to her mother’s execution, Ms Carty Joubert said: “Just thinking about it makes me sick.
“It is hard enough that my mother isn’t there but at least there is a small bit, I get to see her.
“But knowing that she won’t be on this earth for something she didn’t do makes it harder.”
She added: “We haven’t had justice, my mother is basically a scapegoat.”
British Grandma on Death Row with Susanna Reid on ITV1
Presenter Susanna Reid travels to Texas to meet grandmother Linda Carty, the only British woman on death row anywhere in the Western world.
Linda has been awaiting execution for almost 20 years.
In 2003, a jury convicted her of the murder of young mum Joana Rodriguez so she could steal her newborn son Ray.
Susanna meets Linda in the prison visitors’ room and hears her story.
The journalist also interviews lawyers on both sides of this horrifying case in the ITV documentary.
British Grandma on Death Row with Susanna Reid airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Tuesday March 22 2022.
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