A British woman on death row in Texas has appealed to the British Government for help.
Linda Carty, who comes from St Kitts and Nevis whose residents, like those on the Falkland Islands, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands and the ten other British Overseas Territories, are British could receive a date for her execution at any moment. She would become the first British woman to be executed for 57 years.
The 53-year-old grandmother was convicted of killing a young mother in Texas but has always denied her guilt and has said she was framed.
Speaking in an interview on Sky News, she said: "I am 110% innocent. I know I didn't commit this crime. They took 11 years of my life for something I know I didn't do."
She is being represented by the campaign group Reprieve.
Gran Appeals To UK To Save Her From Execution
Thursday April 05, 2012
Greg Milam, US correspondent
Sky News
British woman Linda Carty, who is on death row in Texas, during her interview with Sky News
The British Government has said it is doing all it can to save the life of a British grandmother who has spent 11 years on Death Row in the United States.
Linda Carty, 53, could receive a date for her execution at any moment after her final attempts to secure a new appeal failed.
She would become the first British woman to be executed in 57 years.
She was convicted of killing a young mother in Texas a decade ago but has always said she was framed.
Her lawyers believe she was failed by the American legal system and admit her situation is "desperate".
Carty spoke to Sky News on Death Row in Texas and told us: "I am 110% innocent. I know I didn't commit this crime. They took 11 years of my life for something I know I didn't do."
She was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts and Nevis and therefore is a British citizen. She now wants support from the UK.
"If you don't then you're telling me there's no value to my life and if you do intercede it is saying that every British national, it doesn't matter whether we were born in the mother country or in the colonies, we matter," Carty said.
"We are British. I can't wash off my nationality with soap and water. I am going to always be British."
Ms Carty said she feels sympathy for the family of victim Joana Rodriguez.
"She was somebody's child too, somebody's daughter. For me it's not only a healing process but it's to show the families that the person you've been hating all these years did not commit this crime," she said.
Ms Carty is being represented by the campaign group Reprieve.
Director Clive Stafford-Smith said her best chance of avoiding the death penalty was clemency.
The Foreign Office said it is putting pressure on the authorities in Texas.
"The Prime Minister and British Government are deeply concerned by the position Ms Carty is in," it said in a statement.
"We are committed to using all appropriate influence to prevent the execution of any British national.
"We are working closely with Ms Carty's legal team to ensure their work to secure clemency is supported by appropriate political representations."
Since her conviction, Ms Carty has been held at the Mountain View unit in Gatesville where all of the women on death row in Texas are held.
She admitted she fears her death sentence.
"I won't get up and ask the British Government to go out in the public and lobby for me had I known that I am guilty because then it would be an embarrassment not only to myself and my family but also the country that I love.
"So for me when I say I am innocent and that I didn't commit this crime I mean that."
:: Meanwhile, the Connecticut Senate has voted to repeal the state's death penalty, moving it one step closer to becoming the fifth US state in five years to abandon capital punishment. The measure now moves to the House of Representatives.
Texas Death Penalty Facts
The US restored the death penalty in 1976
Texas has carried out 481 executions since
Three have been women
Last woman executed in Texas: Frances Newton, in 2005
Last British woman executed: Ruth Ellis; hanged in England in 1955
As of December 31, 2011 there were 58 women on death row in the US
Source: Amnesty, DPIC
news.sky.com
Linda Carty, who comes from St Kitts and Nevis whose residents, like those on the Falkland Islands, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands and the ten other British Overseas Territories, are British could receive a date for her execution at any moment. She would become the first British woman to be executed for 57 years.
The 53-year-old grandmother was convicted of killing a young mother in Texas but has always denied her guilt and has said she was framed.
Speaking in an interview on Sky News, she said: "I am 110% innocent. I know I didn't commit this crime. They took 11 years of my life for something I know I didn't do."
She is being represented by the campaign group Reprieve.
Gran Appeals To UK To Save Her From Execution
Thursday April 05, 2012
Greg Milam, US correspondent
Sky News
British woman Linda Carty, who is on death row in Texas, during her interview with Sky News
The British Government has said it is doing all it can to save the life of a British grandmother who has spent 11 years on Death Row in the United States.
Linda Carty, 53, could receive a date for her execution at any moment after her final attempts to secure a new appeal failed.
She would become the first British woman to be executed in 57 years.
She was convicted of killing a young mother in Texas a decade ago but has always said she was framed.
Her lawyers believe she was failed by the American legal system and admit her situation is "desperate".
Carty spoke to Sky News on Death Row in Texas and told us: "I am 110% innocent. I know I didn't commit this crime. They took 11 years of my life for something I know I didn't do."
She was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts and Nevis and therefore is a British citizen. She now wants support from the UK.
"If you don't then you're telling me there's no value to my life and if you do intercede it is saying that every British national, it doesn't matter whether we were born in the mother country or in the colonies, we matter," Carty said.
"We are British. I can't wash off my nationality with soap and water. I am going to always be British."
Ms Carty said she feels sympathy for the family of victim Joana Rodriguez.
"She was somebody's child too, somebody's daughter. For me it's not only a healing process but it's to show the families that the person you've been hating all these years did not commit this crime," she said.
Ms Carty is being represented by the campaign group Reprieve.
Director Clive Stafford-Smith said her best chance of avoiding the death penalty was clemency.
The Foreign Office said it is putting pressure on the authorities in Texas.
"The Prime Minister and British Government are deeply concerned by the position Ms Carty is in," it said in a statement.
"We are committed to using all appropriate influence to prevent the execution of any British national.
"We are working closely with Ms Carty's legal team to ensure their work to secure clemency is supported by appropriate political representations."
Since her conviction, Ms Carty has been held at the Mountain View unit in Gatesville where all of the women on death row in Texas are held.
She admitted she fears her death sentence.
"I won't get up and ask the British Government to go out in the public and lobby for me had I known that I am guilty because then it would be an embarrassment not only to myself and my family but also the country that I love.
"So for me when I say I am innocent and that I didn't commit this crime I mean that."
:: Meanwhile, the Connecticut Senate has voted to repeal the state's death penalty, moving it one step closer to becoming the fifth US state in five years to abandon capital punishment. The measure now moves to the House of Representatives.
Texas Death Penalty Facts
The US restored the death penalty in 1976
Texas has carried out 481 executions since
Three have been women
Last woman executed in Texas: Frances Newton, in 2005
Last British woman executed: Ruth Ellis; hanged in England in 1955
As of December 31, 2011 there were 58 women on death row in the US
Source: Amnesty, DPIC
news.sky.com
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