British woman on Texas death row loses appeal

HOUSTON (AP) — A British woman on Texas death row has lost a federal appeal, moving her closer to execution for the abduction and death of a woman whose child she also had snatched eight years ago in Houston.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling late Thursday, rejected arguments from Linda Carty that her trial lawyers were deficient and that she still had appeals issues she should be able to raise in state courts.

Carty, 50, is one of 10 condemned women in Texas. She is a former teacher from St. Kitts in the British Virgin Islands, where she was born, making her a British citizen.

Just last week, a taped voice recording of Carty begging Britons to help save her life was broadcast into London’s Trafalgar Square.

Her lawyers could take her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s likely an execution date will be sought for her early next year, Roe Wilson, an assistant district attorney who handles Harris County capital case appeals, said Friday.

“We’re aware of the 5th Circuit’s judgment, and are conferring with Ms. Carty and our own legal advisers,” a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said. She spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with department policy. The British government, which opposes capital punishment, has been involved in her appeals.

Carty in 2002 was convicted and sentenced to die for the death of Joana Rodriguez, 20, who was taken with her 4-day-old son, Ray Cabrera, from their apartment in southwest Houston.

The infant was found safe in a car the same day. His mother, however, was found suffocated in the trunk of another car.

At her trial, evidence showed Carty recruited three men to abduct the mother and child and hoped to save her relationship with her common-law husband by passing off the child as her own.

Masked gunmen stormed into Rodriguez’s apartment after midnight on May 16, 2001 under the pretense of stealing drugs, beat and took cash from her husband and a cousin who also was living there. Testimony showed they were joined by Carty, who lived in the same apartment complex, who tied up her husband and cousin and drove off with Rodriguez and her child.

Another tenant in the complex alerted police to Carty, who she said told her the previous day that she was about to have a baby although Carty was obviously not pregnant. When detectives contacted Carty, she claimed to be a federal drug informant, that she had loaned her daughter’s car and a rental car to people who might be involved in the abduction.

Police found the baby alive in one of the cars. Rodriguez’s body was found in the second car. Her arms and legs were wrapped in duct tape, her mouth and nose also were taped and she had a plastic bag over her head.

A review of Carty’s cell phone records led police to Gerald Anderson, one of the participants. Anderson, 36, now is serving a life prison term. The two other men also were convicted. Chris Robinson, 40, is serving 45 years. Carliss Ray Williams Jr., 40, was sentenced to 20 years.

When she was arrested, Carty was on probation for impersonating a federal agent and previously had been arrested for auto theft and drug charges.

In her appeal, Carty’s lawyers contended her trial attorneys were deficient for failing to notify her common-law husband, Jose Corona, that he could refuse to testify against her. Corona was a prosecution witness who testified he left Carty in part because she repeatedly lied to him about being pregnant.

The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit said while Corona’s testimony was damaging, it didn’t make the verdict in the case unfair or unreliable and that evidence of her guilt was “overwhelming” that she had masterminded the abduction scheme.

The appeal also argued claims should have been pursued that Carty suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after she gave up a baby that was the result of a rape. The appeals court said she never gave that information to her trial attorneys. The court also said her lawyers missed time deadlines when they raised new issues in appeals.

Carty’s recorded seven-minute message was played repeatedly last week over a stereo system mounted on an empty plinth at a corner of Trafalgar Square, the famous 19th century plaza in central London.

“Although she has recourse to the Supreme Court, experience suggests that she will soon be in the Texas execution chamber,” Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve, a legal charity assisting Carty and involved in the Trafalgar event, said Friday. “Our worst fears have now been realized for Linda.”

Texas, the nation’s busiest death penalty state, has executed 440 convicted killers since 1982, when it resumed carrying out capital punishment. Three of them have been women.

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Associated Press Writers Jill Lawless and Raphael G. Satter in London contributed to this report.