please show some love to linda

[atrollope]

The Channel4 story of the fate of Linda Carty was very harrowing.From life as a Primary School Teacher in St.Ktts(granting a British Passport)to the mean streets of Houston and Dallas.She was shamed into leaving her school in the Caribbean following a brief encounter with a St.Kitts Policeman.She was now pregnant,single..a big taboo.Soon after her arrival in Texas,she was beaten,robbed and raped by Drug addicts,again she became pregnant.Linda took the heart-wrenching option of giving the baby up for adoption.She said that in all conscience,she could not show the love that the child deserved.

It is always good to see Clive Stafford-Smith,the English Lawyer who is the fiercest fighter against the Death Penalty in the USA.

You see Lindas life went into a tailspin when she gave up the child.A string of abusive relationships later,she was implicated in a kidnapping.A young pregnant woman died ,tied up,in the boot of a Car.Two youths admitted taking part in the crime but,in a plea bargain,said Linda called the shots.

Come the Trial she drew the worst Public Defender of a Capital Murder Trial in the whole of the US.It is on record that this Lawyer handled the cases of more people currently sitting on Death Row than the combined number of condemned in the other 27 States that have the Death Penalty.

Mr Stafford-Smith expressed a plea at the end to the British People,to lend sympathy and support.Linda has been on Death Row since 2002.Time is running out,fast.

We watched this in rapt attention.At the end OH turned and said,"D"ya know,in this Country,in all likelihood she wouldnt be in Prison at all.But sent to a Psychiatric Hospital for a term"....Exactly!!

[Brenden]

jd. a presume part of the plea bargain was to testify against this woman, did not see the programme. but can she not have a re-trial, I do believe that there are many innocent people in prison.

[NoMercy]

How did she come to be implicated in the first place?

[flip_flop]

Frankly, I couldn't possibly care any less if I tried.

[NoMercy]

Well try to imagine being an innocent person staring down the barrel of a state-sanctioned execution, Flip, and then you might show a little compassion.

I am not going to believe this woman is innocent because someone else tells me she is, but if I were to follow the case and I believed she was innocent, I would care.

[emmie]

i did watch it and feel incredibly sad for her, and it shows you how easy it is to fall down so low. I can't make up my mind to her guilt, because much of the evidence pointed her way. But she was sorely tested by the truly awful things that have happened to her. What i can't understand is now her family are behind her, why didn't they do that when she was young, pregnant, instead of shunning her, not very Christian was it, from a so called Christian family, which has led directly to where she is now. I hope that she gets a reprieve, as i think her defence council was useless, and all the things he could of done for her, like visit her home St Kitts, interviewed her family, even when he was told that money would be available from the state to do so, he didn't. I am not sure she is mentally ill either, but much of what has happened to her, could well have contributed to her condition. A truly awful situation, programme. Perhaps if she had had the British lawyer as her representative, she might not be facing the death penalty. As to the fact that the lowlifes that admitted the killing, and got a life sentence, but she got a death sentence, makes no sense at all. That isn't justice, that is plea bargain at its worse

[jackthehat]

Her 'defence' team, especially her lawyer were incompetent and there have been many question raised about him in other cases.

The fundamental thing about Justice is that it must be 'seen to be done' and that doesn't seem to be the case here.

[flip_flop]

NoMercy - Until I read this thread I had never heard of her, I was completely ignorant of her.

She has been convicted, and therefore in the eyes of the law she is guilty. People saying "she is innocent" doesn't make it so.

She is in a country thousands of miles away.

Why should I care?

And I strongly suspect that if many people on this thread were to be completely honest, they probably couldn't really give a tinker's cuss either.

[NoMercy]

They may not allow it to affect their lives, but I'm sure they can exhibit a little compassion, particularly as her conviction is, at best, unsafe.

[lumination]

i watched the program last night and my personal judgment is that she is innocent. but i wonder what it was that made the court think she wasnt.

[Philtaz]

As I said, if I was staring death in the face I'd be more than a little inclined to produce the names of the two people who might just save my life.....

or am I being too cynical?

[Philtaz]

As I said, if I was staring death in the face I'd be more than a little inclined to produce the names of the two people who might just save my life.....

or am I being too cynical?

[NoMercy]

If she has a cast-iron alibi, why didn't she provide 9 years ago...?

[notasyoungasiwas]

Agree with flip

[mccfluff]

i watched it and she was badly let down by her lawyer but to me that was all the programme showed, they didn't come up with any clear evidence to show guilt or non guilt.

i don;t believe in the death penalty full stop

[Clanad]

I'm in the U.S., but haven't heard of this case. I would like to address, however, the old canard about "being kept on death row for 20 years only to executed them", or words to that effect.

Thing is, the justice system in any State, even Texas is so sensitive to the rights of the accuded/convicted, that every possible allowance is made for appeals to the court system... all paid for by the State (or, in the case of Federal crimes, by the U.S. government). Appeal after appeal is pursued, until, finally, after years they've all been heard and adjudicated by many different Courts. If all have failed, execution can then take place.
Texas takes a terrible rap for being thoroughly dedicated to pursuing end justice... so much so, that over the years they'va worked out and finely tuned the process... "Texas doesn't sentence more people to death than a number of other states, but it executes a higher percentage because many other states' procedures have not been fully tested and affirmed. Steiker believes that other states will soon catch up with Texas' execution rate. Indeed, Virginia came relatively close to matching Texas' rate in 1998: Texas executed 20 individuals, and Virginia executed 13."Source: The Death Penalty in Texas Today).

[atrollope]

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/lindacarty/

[NoMercy]

I am glad you said that, fluff... I don't believe in it either.

[atrollope]

Linda is British and Innocent,but it does not seem she has attracted much sympathy with Answerbankers.....maybe if she was White..hmmm

Perhaps her biggest crimes are that she is Poor and Black ..?

[Mamyalynne]

I have no idea if Linda is innocent or not (I watched the entire programme) I do however feel she did not get a fair hearing.

Never once did I consider her colour or wealth in making my decision.

[atrollope]

And neither did I mamyalynne....but the Rough Justice that Linda received suggests that it was a consideration in the minds of the Texas Judiciary.

The other thing that disturbed me was that Linda was a C.I.(confidential informant) for quite a while,instrumental in securing the convictions of Drug Dealers...but still her Defence Counsel and the Police "sold her down the river"