Linda Carty
| Linda Carty | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Linda Anita Carty 5 October 1958 Saint Kitts |
| Occupation | Laborer. Former primary school teacher. Former DEA Informant |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Criminal status | Fresh appeal launched in 2015; granted. Still on death row. |
| Spouse(s) | Jose Corona |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
Linda Anita Carty (born 5 October 1958) is a woman possessing both United States and British citizenship on death row in Texas. She was convicted and sentenced to death in February 2002 for the abduction and murder of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez, in order to steal her newborn son. Carty claims she was framed by drug dealers in response to her work as an informant and has appealed her conviction. Her appeals have been unsuccessful to date, but she launched a fresh appeal in 2015 which was granted as reported on 26 February 2015. Barring the granting of clemency, she currently stands to become the first female British national to be executed since Ruth Ellis in 1955, and the first British black woman executed in more than a century.
Born in St. Kitts to Anguillan parents, 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 citizen of the United States. Carty studied pharmacology at the University of Houston.
In 1992, Carty was convicted of auto theft and impersonation of an FBI agent. She was sentenced to 10 years probation, on the condition she would work as a drug informant. While working as an informant, she provided information leading to two arrests. Her services came to an end when she was arrested on drug charges.
However, in media interviews Carty has claimed that she was recruited by a friend from the Houston Police Department and that her work for the DEA helped land seizures of thousands of dollars' worth of narcotics and led to the imprisonment of scores of dealers.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice:
On 16 May 2001, Carty and three co-defendants [Gerald Anderson, Chris Robinson, and Carlos Williams] invaded the home of a 25 year old female. The victim and her three-day-old baby were kidnapped and two other victims were beaten, duct taped, and left in the residence. The 25 year old female was hog-tied with duct tape, a bag was taped over her head, and she was placed in the trunk of a car. This victim died from suffocation.
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