01x03 - Linda Carty

[bunniefuu]

(suspenseful music)

- This whole thing was about
linda wanting that baby.

There is just a level of
intolerable cruelty to this.

- She planned it.

She ex*cuted on the spur of
moment once the baby was born.

She had to recruit these guys.

- So she was found
guilty of capital m*rder

And she was found to be a
continuing threat to society.

And so she was
sentenced to death.

- I'm not afraid of
death, but being charged

With a capital m*rder that
I know that I did not own.

It is the flip side
of the american dream.

- I believe it was okay for her

To get the death sentence
because she's evil.

(suspenseful music)

(suspenseful music)

(suspenseful music)

(suspenseful music)

(suspenseful music)

- [carty] being on death row

I feel as though I'm
an animal who's caged.

(suspenseful music)

I could be facing an execution.

People think that I
should be despondent,

You know but in order to
maintain my sanity,

I have to be hopeful.

And I live by faith
and I trust god.

And that's where my hope is.

My name is linda carty,

And I'm here in the state
of texas on death row.

- I have no sympathy
at all for linda carty.

And I don't think
the jury did either.

And I don't think
that people who listen

To the events of
this story would.

The events of the crime itself

Were three men enter the home,

Bust into the apartment
where joana rodriguez

And baby ray and her
husband were living.

And they are demanding
money and drugs.

They find very little money
and they find no drugs.

And so three men
leave with joana.

Linda takes the baby.

What kind of human
being abducts a mother

Out of her bed with a
three day old child.

Who does that?

What kind of person does that?

(jail door clinking)

(eerie wind)

- It happened like at one
o'clock in the morning

And my detectives got
called to the scene.

They paged me and got me up

And told me that they'd
had this kidnapping.

And a three day
old baby was taken.

I was a lieutenant in homicide.

I was there for 23 years.

We've had a lot of kidnappings,

But the three day old
was kind of unusual,

Scared the heck outta me.

It's been my experience that,

The people that kidnap babies

They generally don't
take care of them.

If they get tired of them,
they get rid of them.

And I've had that happen
in another case before

Where they literally
threw the baby away.

We knew it was a race.

Everybody knew we had to
get this child back quickly.

I got there and people
were already working.

I think I had 11 that day.

I knew we needed a lot of help.

Raymundo, the father,
said that he was asleep

And he is woken up
in bed by two males

Wearing ski masks
and having g*ns.

They kicked the door, demanding
all the dope and the cash.

And he told them
he didn't have any.

And so they beat
him with a p*stol.

He was p*stol
whipped and tied up.

They kept yelling for the
dope and he didn't have any.

And then they took
his wife and his child

And left him upstairs.

This is raymundo.

You see anguish, you see
somebody who's had his

Wife and child kidnapped

And his head caved
in by a p*stol,

Not knowing what's going on.

Can you imagine?

I don't even wanna imagine.

A lot of drug
related kidnappings

If they don't get
the money, the drugs,

They take victims and
hold 'em for hostage.

So we thought
that's what we had,

That they would demand a ransom.

That's what we were
gearing up for.

- Joanne and raymundo, they
were working class immigrants

Trying to make it in
the united states.

They're saving up a thousand
dollars in cash to buy a car.

They had a relative living
on the floor, a cousin.

They had relatives living in
the same apartment complex,

Trying to seek a
better life here.

- These are our
photos of the scene

At the apartment complex.

This is where the suspects
gained violent entry.

This is where the
cousin was, downstairs

And they tied him up with
duct tape and a phone cord.

All this stuff was fingerprinted

In hopes that we'd get a print.

We had the latent lab come out

And go through the
entire apartment.

Wherever we knew that
the suspect had touched.

That's the amber alert.

This is the photo of the
family that was taken,

In a disposable camera from
the hospital two days earlier.

I've seen that years
and years being used,

'cause there's just no
other pictures of her.

That's very sad if he grew up,

That's the only picture
he has of his mom.

At that time, we had nothing.

We had absolutely nothing.

And that was just one
of the scariest things.

It was a race.

I figured we had to get
back to him very quick

Before something bad happened.

(jail door clinking)

Over the course of the next
day, I use 22 detectives.

So they're dressed casually

And they go around
and do a canvas

And see if they could
find any witnesses.

- My name is florence meyers.

I used to live in the
same apartment complex

With linda carty back in 2001,

When this crime was committed.

I used to live here

And joana rodriguez
lived here too.

- This is exactly where
the actual crime happened.

Right here, apartment 36.

(suspenseful music)

This is where I used to
live, apartment number 40.

This is where linda carty
was living in apartment 38.

(somber music)

The day after the
crime was committed,

I got up and I heard
a knock on the door

And it was the police.

I opened the door and they
told me what had happened.

And they asked me if I heard
anything, if I knew anything.

I told him, I don't
know anything.

And the guy gave me
his card and he said,

Well, if you hear anything

Or if you know
anything, let me know.

So when he left, I went in
the kitchen, I got the cereal.

I pour it in the bowl and I
was about to pour the milk.

Then something clicked.

The day before the crime

I go check my mail
and throw the trash.

So when I come like right here,

Linda's car was parked there

And she was sitting
on the driver's seat.

When she saw me coming
out, she did like this.

So I went, I walked

And I stood by her side
on the driver's side.

And she said, you know, I'm
gonna be having a baby tomorrow.

And when I have
the baby tomorrow,

I will bring the baby tomorrow.

And I'll show you
the baby tomorrow.

Why do you need to show
me the baby tomorrow?

These are the things that
are going on in my mind

At that split second.

Two of us, don't talk like that.

You know, she's heavy set,

But I have no way of
knowing if she's pregnant.

It was like straight
out of the blue.

So looking back now, she was
preparing all the neighbors,

Preparing our minds
because she knew

What she was going to do
was try to steal that baby.

(suspenseful music)

(somber music)

- I was born in st kitts.
It's a british colony.

(somber music)

I had a real solid foundation.
You know,

With both parents being
visible in my life.

I had everything that a child
could have dream about having.

The love of a family,
the love of a father,

The love of a mother.

I had a good childhood.

(jail door clinking)

- The day after the
crime was committed.

I told the police officer,

You know, my neighbor,
her name is linda.

She told me yesterday,

She's gonna be having
a baby tomorrow.

And the day she told me
she's gonna be having a baby.

I remember seeing
a big u-haul here.

Big old, like 18
wheeler, big old u-haul.

Already she knew she had moved.

So the crime was premeditated.

She thought about it
for a long, long time.

- When florence meyers
comes forward with that tip

Houston police department
then runs a search

On the name linda carty

And lo and behold,
what do they find?

Hpd finds that linda is a ci

With the drug
enforcement agency.

(suspenseful music)

She did do some work for the dea

For a guy by the name
of charlie mathis,

Who was her handler in
a program with the dea

Where she would go in
and she would buy heroin

For what they called a
domestic monitoring program.

Basically dea would monitor
the strength of street heroin.

And she would occasionally
give them leads.

But linda liked
to portray herself

As having this close
professional relationship,

If you will,
as a ci with charlie mathis.

(jail door clinking)

- During the course
of the investigation,

We had lots of leads going on.

We had more than we wanted

What really settled it for me

Is when I talked to the
federal agent and he said,

Well, linda contacted him

And said, she's
about to get a baby.

And I realized this lady's
doing verbal baby announcements.

And I said, okay.

And she was obviously
number one lead then.

It was a race to find the child

Before something bad happened.

- They asked her
to go down to hpd

To the headquarters to give
a statement, and she does.

While she's in the patrol car,
she is calling two people.

She is calling her husband.

And she's calling
charlie mathis,

'cause she thinks charlie's
gonna get her out of this.

Look at me. You
know, I know you.

I can read you.
- Mhm

- Hpd is desperate
to find this baby.

Charlie is begging
her for information.

- She asks hpd to leave,

To speak to a dea agent without
any police officers present.

(beep)

- Linda continue to
profess her innocence.

(suspenseful music)

- So shortly after linda
talks to charlie mathis,

She talks to her husband.

Hpd is desperate to find
this baby. All right?

And you think about how
unusual the situation is.

You have a witness, it's like,

Yes, we are gonna let you talk

To your husband without any
police officers present.

They were desperate
to find this baby.

- Linda's husband, jose,

They have something of a
tumultuous relationship,

But there was a constant.

And the constant was
whenever jose said

He wanted to leave
the relationship,

Linda would say, I'm
pregnant. You can't leave.

Come may of 2001,

Jose decides that's
it, I'm done, I'm out.

He moves out of the apartment.

So linda tries to
convince him to stay

By again, saying,
hey, I'm pregnant.

He's not buying it.

- It always struck
jose as kind of weird.

He would ask her
about the pregnancy

And linda would say,
well, I lost the baby.

He asked on one time to
go to the doctor with her.

And she refused to let
him go to the doctor.

- During the course
of talking to linda,

You ask her where you
stayed last night.

She said she stayed
at the hampton inn.

I said, okay, that's a clue.

So we immediately
thought there's a baby

Back at the hampton inn.

And we sent detectives.

Everybody knew we had to
get this child back quickly.

(somber music)

- I'm not afraid of death.

(somber music)

Do I wanna die for
something that I didn't do?

No. And that's my fear.

It's not dying. It's
why I have to die.

(jail door clinking)

(suspenseful music)

- We were all searching
for joana and the baby.

During the course
of talking to linda,

She said she stayed
at the hampton inn.

I said, okay, that's a clue.

So we immediately
thought there's a baby

Back at the hampton inn.

And we sent detectives
to get there

And they got a card and went in

And found a lot of baby stuff.

No baby.

- This is in the hampton end,

The baby bed in the hotel room.

Linda had set up the bed
because she didn't have a crib.

That is how a parent would
typically arrange pillows

On a bed to make sure your
child doesn't fall off.

Evidence was overwhelming.

Baby bottles, underwear, diaper.

I mean, look, you look
how little that diaper is.

- I see a lot of baby stuff

For a woman who
didn't have a child.

I see a great deal of evidence
pointing towards her guilt.

- She told us that, I
might know who did it.

I might know where they're at.

I'll take you to them.

And that just
stopped everything.

Everybody went, what?

She agreed to show us where
the other crooks, not her,

The other crooks
might have the baby.

So we put her in her car with
a couple of our detectives.

She wanted to only
drive with her handler

Because she thought he'd
probably let her go.

Not realizing we're
way beyond that.

- Hpd very quickly
assembles a raid team

Because they don't know
what they're getting into.

And they were desperate
for any lead at this point.

(suspenseful music)

- I had two lieutenants,
seven officers,

And four patrol officers
and followed her directions.

(suspenseful music)

She took us to 6042 van zandt.

There's a small house in a
big yard, cars everywhere.

- When they go to the scene,
linda's two cars are there.

(suspenseful music)

- I ran by a small little car.

The car was running
and I looked over

And there's a child
in the child seat.

(suspenseful music)

- The baby is, thank god alive

In one of linda's cars.

- And I told an officer
behind me, just stay there.

And eventually hector rios
came and got the baby,

And the baby looked fine.

The air condition was going.

From the time we
respond to the scene

To the time we got baby
ray back, it was 17 hours.

(somber music)

(suspenseful music)

And then one of the
other detectives,

I think lieutenant
walker was with him,

And started smelling something.

These are all
experienced homicide guys

And they knew what it was.

(suspenseful music)

- The crime scene is
absolutely horrific.

(suspenseful music)

- It was shocking
to hear the cop,

Try to tell me that he think

That I had something
to do with it.

(jail door slams)

And then on top of
that, when I got to hpd,

It was like they were
trying to get me to say

That I knew something
about this crime

Or knew something about
this, knew this lady.

And I didn't.

I refused to because I knew
I had nothing to do with it.

(jail door clinking)

(suspenseful music)

- Police show up at the crime
scene on van zandt street

And the baby is, thank god,

Alive.

In one of linda's cars.

- From the time we
responded the scene

To the time we got baby
ray back, it was 17 hours.

Detectives started smelling
something

And we found joana,

The mother in the
back of a vehicle.

She'd been long dead.

Our big regret is we couldn't
do anything for the mother.

- Joana has found in
the trunk of a car. Bound,

Gagged, with a plastic
bag over her head.

There were
indentations in the bag

From her nose and her mouth.

As if she's suffocating,
she's trying to get air.

- We were trying to
get her back obviously.

And there's nothing we could
have done to get there faster.

It's may in houston,
it's 92 degrees that day.

So she wasn't gonna last
long and probably didn't.

My guys had to tell the family.

It was not good.

(somber music)

(suspenseful music)

- Linda continued to
profess her innocence.

Her story was that
these jackers,

As she referred to them,
committed the m*rder.

- We went in all like 19 of us.

The only legitimate
resident of the place

Was an elderly lady.

She was screaming at me.

We told all the adult
males to get on the ground.

We secured everybody.

We had to figure out
who was part of it

And who was just innocent.

I had to get people
from other squads

To do some of the interviews.

And then we eventually
identified the suspects.

- Chris robinson, carliss
williams, and gerald anderson.

They take three men down
to hpd, to headquarters,

To give a statement
about this body.

Murray smith makes a
determination at that point,

Linda is under arrest.

She is not free to
go at that point.

- I don't think until that
point she even believed.

She knew she was in trouble,

But she thought she'd
talk her way out of it.

(suspenseful music)

(suspenseful music)

- Okay.

- Linda, she tells guy by
the name of chris robinson

That she wants to do
a drug rip, all right?

That in this apartment
where joana rodriguez was,

Was about a thousand
pounds of marijuana

And all sorts of money.

And she needs some help
doing this drug rip.

- Three men, her
accomplices, enter the home

And they are demanding
money and drugs.

They find very little money
and they find no drugs.

- She planned this whole
thing. She planned it.

She ex*cuted it on
the spur of the moment

Once the baby was born.

She had to recruit these guys.

Well, you're promised a
thousand pounds of marijuana.

She got people and these
are hardened criminals.

They aren't kids.

- Joana rodriguez is
shoved in a car in a trunk.

Linda takes the baby

And they go back to
van zandt street.

- There are two cars.

There's a car with
linda who has the baby

And the three other people
who went into the apartment

With her, in another car.

Linda wants to take
the baby with her

And they won't let her.

They won't let her because
they realized they got set up.

Chris robinson
says he sees linda

Place the bag over her head.

- Chris robinson
says, linda did it.

There are capital murders where
there are more dead bodies.

There are capital murders
that are bloodier,

But there is just a level of
intolerable cruelty to this.

(suspenseful music)

(suspenseful music)

- When I leave this chair,

I don't have the
autonomy and the freedom

That I have here right now.

(handcuffs click)

I'm handcuffed.

Taken back to a cell.

(door slams)

They don't like you
to call it solitary

Because they allow you to
come out for four hours a day.

I am angry and I'm bitter.

(suspenseful music)

- In texas, the women on
death row are housed at a unit

Called the mountain view
unit in gatesville, texas.

The cells within the texas
prison systems are small.

Especially the single person
cells are generally 10x6.

So we're talking 60 square feet.

I mean, very, very small and
most consist just of a bunk

And a built in like
a writing table.

Most have a commode and some
sort of a mirror that's in it.

And that's about it.

They're made to be livable,
but they're very, very limited

In what they can have.

So it's not, it's
not very homey.

(jail door clinking)

(suspenseful music)

- Joana rodriguez is
shoved in a car in a trunk.

Linda takes the baby and they
go back to van zandt street.

- Chris robinson
says he sees linda

Place the bag over her head.

- Now, why does linda do that?

Joana rodriguez doesn't
know chris robinson.

She knows linda carty.
Linda carty's her neighbor.

Linda needed her gone.

(suspenseful music)

- There was this huge
trailer mounted barbecue pit

That was going hot as blazes.

And these guys were
gonna cut the body up

And put it in there
and cremate it,

Which is just stupid.

Physically, it doesn't
get hot enough,

But it's just terrible.

- I don't think there's any way
good to die a violent death.

I don't like to speculate.

I really don't
like to speculate,

But horrific to take
a young mom like that.

She's only 20 years old.

(jail door clinking)

(somber music)

- They called raymundo cabrera,
joana's husband, to testify.

And her co-defendants,
they were there

And they were cooperating.

- There were three
co-defendants with linda,

Chris robinson, carlos
williams, and gerald anderson.

They were ultimately found
guilty of aggravated kidnapping

And sentenced to 20 years,
45 years, and life in prison.

But linda was different.
This was linda's brainchild.

Linda was the ringleader,

But she said she had been
set up by chris robinson.

(suspenseful music)

- At the time of that
m*rder, I was asleep.

I was at my hotel
room. I had no vehicle.

My vehicle had been stolen
or taken away from me.

The crime scene was about 40,

Probably more minutes
away from my hotel room.

So there was no way I could
have done what they said I did.

- Chris robinson puts
linda in the apartment.

Chris robinson is
there to say like,

This whole thing was concocted.

This whole thing was about
linda wanting that baby.

So she was found guilty
of capital m*rder

And she was found to be a
continuing threat to society.

So she was sentenced to death.

- When I heard that linda
was given the dead sentence,

I believe it was okay for her
to get the death sentence.

I believe that. It
was cool with me.

It's still cool with me.

The fact that a four
day old baby was stolen

And then joana rodriguez,
the poor girl, you know,

You can imagine a woman being
pregnant for nine months

And then to deliver of a child.

Her body has not even
healed for her to go through

What she went through

Simply because another woman
wants a child, her child.

That still gets me. It
still gives me good bumps.

- She's guilty as hell.

For that reason, she
gets what she deserves.

(suspenseful music)

- Linda has exhausted
all of her available

Legal claims in state
court and federal court.

What her attorneys and
others now complain about

Is linda carty was a
citizen of st kitts,

Which is part of
the united kingdom.

And so she should
have been advised

Her vienna convention
rights, but she was not.

The united states of
america is a signatory

To an international treaty

Called the vienna convention
on consular relations.

If a citizen of country a

Goes abroad to country b and
gets arrested in country b

Country b is supposed to
notify that individual

That you have the right to
have your consulate notified.

Linda carty unquestionably
was not advised

Of her consular rights.

- There is one person
I would like to become

An advocate for me right
now, to get involved.

That's prince charles.

He has the power to get
certain things done.

- Right back, please. Thank you.

- The woman depicted on
the cardboard cut out

Is months, her supporters say,

From being put to death
by lethal injection.

Linda carty is now begging the
prime minister to intervene.

- At this stage, being british
could be the only lifeline.

(somber music)

- This is not the america
that I envision stepping into.

And this is not
the america that I

Had foreseen myself
being a part of.

(somber music)

This is not the american dream

That I came here to acquire.

But I'm hopeful.

I'm hopeful that
the american dream

Will still be something
that I could partake of.

Right back, please. Thank you.

- The controversy surrounding
linda carty's case

Centers around the fact that
she is a british national.

- What's unusual is that linda
carty is a british citizen

Born on the caribbean
island of st. Kitts.

She would be the
first british woman

To be ex*cuted for 50 years.

- Britain opposes
the death penalty

And the foreign
office said today,

Officials are in contact
with her legal team.

Her last hope that
pressure from the uk

Will help win clemency.

- What her attorneys and
others now complain about

Is she should have been
advised of her consular rights,

But she was not.

- When a country signs
a treaty with you,

They're supposed to
respect that treaty

Irregardless of what.

They have not, the state,
the courts have not respected

The vienna treaty.

All I want is a fair trial.

I want to have my time in
court where my attorneys

Will be given enough time
to go out and prove to you

That I did not
commit this crime.

And none of the courts
so far has given them

That opportunity to do so.

- So what linda's attorneys
will argue is like,

Look, if they had notified us

And we had been brought
on board early on

Things would've been different.

Here's why that doesn't work

Because the evidence
was overwhelming.

The dream team can't come up
with a different explanation

As to why those two
cars were in that lot.

Why were linda's
cars both there?

The dream team could not change

That linda carty knew exactly
where the crime scene was.

The dream team could not change

That linda carty was putting
and getting baby materials

Out of a public storage unit.

The best attorneys in the world

Could not change the
facts of this case.

- The defense says she's
didn't get a fair trial

And I understand
that's their job.

Okay? I have no problem
with them doing their job.

People saying she's
actually innocent.

That I take problem with.

These officers and the
sergeants did a heck of a job.

And I don't want
somebody just to say,

Oh, it's all a big frame job.

It wasn't, it's a
lot of evidence.

- After spending 20
years on texas death row,

Linda carty really could face
an execution date at any time.

She has exhausted just about
all of her major appeals

And is eligible for a date
at any possible moment.

- I think of joana

And the family growing
up without her.

(somber music)

Raymundo said that he was
taking his wife back to mexico

To bury her.

I haven't had any contact or
know of any contact since then.

I hope he got remarried

And had a normal
life, a good life.

- My understanding
is that baby ray

And his dad have
gone back to mexico

And they live there now.

They were here to chase
the american dream

And they got a capital
m*rder instead.

Will there ever really
be justice for a baby boy

Who will not know what it's like

To be hugged and
kissed by your mom?

I don't know.

(somber music)