When citizens of other countries are arrested in the U.S., special notification procedures are required under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a treaty that the U.S. has signed and ratified. These same procedures apply to U.S. citizens arrested in other countries. There are over 130 people on death row in the U.S. from other countries, and many of them were not afforded their notification rights under the Vienna Convention. Linda Carty is a British national on Texas’ death row from St. Kitts. She could face execution if her request for a retrial is denied. She currently has a petition before the U.S. Supreme Court claiming she received inadequate representation during her original trial and that the United Kingdom could have provided additional legal support if the proper procedures had been followed in her case. Carty’s attorneys assert that Texas authorities neglected to inform the British Consulate that she held a UK dependent-territory passport. Carty has always maintained her innocence of the murder that placed her on death row.
(“Death row Briton Linda Carty pleas to US Supreme Court,” BBC News, February 26, 2010). Click here for more information on Linda Carty from Reprieve, including a video from Bianca Jagger about this case. See Bianca Jagger’s recent article in the Huffington Post. See also Foreign Nationals and Women.
