This appeal was rejected on September 19, 2009. [20], On July 23, 2015, retired district judge Michael Kirby threw out Rogers Lacaze's conviction and sentence and ordered a new trial. Frank entered the front door using the key she had stolen from the restaurant earlier and walked quickly past Williams, pushing Chau, Chau's brother Quoc, and a restaurant employee into the doorway of the restaurant's kitchen. This film not only depicts the America of the less fortunate, but also the fate of a woman who was a victim from the day she was born, a woman who has been crushed by the American judicial system., Confined behind a glass partition, wearing white prison garb, her face washed out in the artificial lighting, Melissa appears stunned: I dont understand how the court system did this to me. Further on she comments: I had never been arrested before. The documentary stands as a rebuke to the indifference of the media and the fanatical self-obsession of the identity politics crowd who could care less about the fate of people like Van Tassels subject. On 26 February 2010, Carty appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the British government filed an amicus curiae brief. Meyers testified that Carty did not appear to be pregnant. The association between Frank and Lacaze became noticeable after other police officers witnessed Lacaze driving her car, and even observed him moving her police unit at the scene of an accident she was investigating. May 15, 2018. She received a lethal injection at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, after a last-minute . According to the Death Penalty Information Center, women are rarely sentenced to death in the United States and executions of women are even rarer. When he met her at the police station on 16 May after she had been arrested, he asked her if the baby had been born, and she told him "not yet.". 2d 724 (La. [21][22] An appellate court later overturned the new trial order for Lacaze. In an interview for a documentary broadcast by the UK's Channel 4, The British Woman on Death Row (November 28, 2011), the United Kingdom's Consul General in Houston at the time, Paul Lynch, stated that this breach:[32]. She was aided by her probable lover, drug dealer Rogers Lacaze. It all seemed very bizarre to me, I would also like people to realize that death row targets the poor, and it targets Black and Brown lives. Set in the heart of the Latino community of South Texas, the film explores the life and trials of Melissa Lucio, the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death row in Texas, the state. They told me that I was the first person in 13 years to ask anything about her casethat even her lawyer at the time of her trial had never tried to meet them. The execution . [14][15], In 1992, Carty was convicted of auto theft and impersonation of an FBI agent. In the similar case of Manuel Velez, a man who was initially convicted for murdering a one-year-old baby and whose death sentence was overturned after further investigation, Farley's conclusions had also been contradicted by other medical experts. Cancel anytime. She did fall down. Melissa Lucio was born in Lubbock, Texas,[2] on June 18, 1969, according to court records. [13], On April 22, 2008, District Judge Frank Marullo signed the death warrant for Antoinette Frank. [17] This decision was subsequently overturned in an en banc hearing of the same court[18] and Lucio remained on death row. [27] On April 17, 2022, in the main segment of another episode, called "Police Interrogations", Lucio's case was mentioned again as having every hallmark of a false confession.[28]. Carty wrote out what she wanted the letter to say, and Hernandez copied it. It will only bring more pain and suffering, said State Rep Joe Moody. The victim subsequently died of suffocation, but the baby was found unharmed. They argued that the defense needed to conduct "an investigation into the defendant's background for possible mitigating evidence." "[20], In January 2022, Cameron County officials signed an execution warrant for Lucio. Bryant ordered Wallace to drop the gun, which he did immediately and was restrained; Lacaze then lunged toward Wallace, but Bryant grabbed him. If we had been allowed, and given the opportunity to support Linda Carty, if she had been given all the support to which she was entitled and which she deserved something entirely different, I believe, would have happened at that trial and Linda Carty would not now be facing a death penalty. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [9][10][11], Born in St. Kitts to Anguillan parents,[12] Carty holds British citizenship as St. Kitts was a British colony at the time of her birth. We decided to follow five of them. The letter cites significant doubts about "Ms. Lucios guilt, her disparate treatment compared to her husband and co-defendant, who received a four-year sentence, and the impact her execution will have on her supportive family and faith community.". The program is called The British Woman on Death Row. She kept up her relationship even though she was well aware she was jeopardizing her career.[2]. Theyre saying that the evidence on Lucio is troubling and that they at the least want a stay of execution. Dive in these women's lives full of horror, hope, death, and love, in one of the most terrible places in the USA, death row.60 women are waiting for their execution on death row. Stream thousands of shows and movies, with plans starting at$7.99/month. Lucio, a 53-year-old Mexican-American mum, was found guilty in 2008 of the death of her two-year-old daughter Mariah, who died in 2007 after falling down the stairs.. Van Tassel has directed more than 45 documentary films over the last 15 years for major television programs. However, such recommendations are rare. Antoinette Renee Frank (born April 30, 1971) is a former officer of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) who, on March 4, 1995, committed a violent armed robbery at a restaurant which resulted in the killing of two members of the Vietnamese-American family who ran the establishment, and fellow NOPD officer Ronald A. Williams II. Who are they? [9][28][10] The British government filed an amicus brief in her support. See production, box office & company info. [16] In 2019, a three-judge panel of the Federal Appeals Court overturned the sentence and ordered a retrial because of the trial court's interference in Lucio's right to present a defense. Chau ran to the kitchen to hide the money in the microwave. The letter said Carty was being set up by "Chris and Zeb," who borrowed Carty's car and put the baby in it. [31] Carty also claims that she was interviewed without counsel being present on one occasion. Dive in these women's lives full of horror, hope, death, and love, in one of the most terrible places in the USA, death row. In police uniform, Frank exited the squad car and told Wallace and Stevens to get out and go to the back of the car. Sabrina Butler was convicted and sentenced to death in Mississippi in 1990 for the death of her nine-month-old son. Frank's attorneys introduced the testimony of psychiatrists who said that possible traumatic events in Frank's childhood could have affected her behavior at the time of the murders and she may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. [21] Lucio subsequently petitioned for clemency. Carty has appealed her conviction,[6][7][8] with her most recent petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari being denied by the Supreme Court on November 13, 2018. [26] The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has the option to recommend clemency to the Governor of Texas. She was convicted of capital murder after the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, who was found to have scattered bruising in various stages of healing, as well as injuries to her head and contusions of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord. "[24], On April 25, 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution and ordered the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron County to consider new evidence of Lucio's innocence in the death of her daughter. I did not know what to expect. She observes sadly that I often think about my daughter Mariah. Lucio's sister, Sonya Valencia Alvarez, said Lucio has spent the last 15 years grieving her daughter and Lucio's son, John Vincent Lucio, said his sister died by accident when she fell down a set of stairs. Lucio was married at the age of 16 and had her first five children with Guadalupe Lucio. Trevor McDonald enters Death Row at one of America's oldest and most notorious maximum-security prisons to meet the very people whose crimes have led to the ultimate punishment. Quoc emerged from the cooler and ran out the restaurant's back door to a nearby friend's home to call 911 to report the murders. Brenda was a good student who always earned above-average grades. Frank refused to discuss anything regarding the murders - every time the investigator asked her a question, she told him to "look it up in the record" or asserted her innocence. Do you want it?" [25] Lacaze is serving his sentence at the Louisiana State Penitentiary ("Angola") in West Feliciana Parish. The Fear of 13. Citing trial court interference in her right to present a defense, a federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of Melissa Lucio, a Texas mother who was sentenced to death for murdering her two-year-old daughter.In an unpublished, unsigned opinion issued on July 29, 2019, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that trial court rulings that blocked Melissa Elizabeth Lucio from calling an expert witness to challenge the reliability of statements she gave to police violated Lucios right to present a complete defense. The appeals court reversed a federal district court decision that had upheld Lucios conviction and death sentence and returned the case to the lower court to grant Lucio a new trial.Several people have been exonerated from death row after being wrongfully convicted of killing children. Frank got the money out of a microwave, then shot 21-year-old Ha three times as she knelt, pleading for her life. Linda Anita Carty (born 5 October 1958) is a Kittitian -American [a] former schoolteacher who is on death row in Texas. According to the release, Melissa Lucio is the first Latina sent to death row in Texas. Lucio was addicted to cocaine and tested positive shortly after Mariah was born; this prompted authorities to place her children in foster care. In February 2002, she was sentenced to death for the abduction and murder in 2001 of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez in order to steal Rodriguez's newborn son. She was placed under arrest. Who are they? Dive in these women's lives full of horror, hope, death, and love, in one of the most Read all60 women are waiting for their execution on death row. Frank's attorney stated she would appeal the ruling to the state's supreme court, which had already overruled both of Marullo's death warrants. Antoinette Frank is on Louisiana death row for the murders of three people including a fellow police officer. We decided to follow five of them. Frank heard the 911 call on her portable police radio saying that an officer was down at the Kim Anh restaurant. There are days where I wish I could leave this place and be with Mariah., Melissas original defense attorney, Peter Gilman, now works for the Texas district attorneys office. In this episode of Women of Death Row, Mariel tells the story of Dame Alice Kyteler, a woman condemned and burned to death at the stake for witchcraft in Ireland on November 3, 1324. I'm responsible. Hulu has acquired U.S rights to Sabrina Van Tassel's documentary 'The State of Texas vs. Melissa,' which was selected for Tribeca in 2020. . Her mother also reflects on their strained relationship. The motive is to collect her roommate's $100,000 mortgage insurance policy. As Williams fell, Lacaze continued to shoot him in the head and back, mortally wounding him. Antoinette Frank applied to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) in early 1993. [10][29], Carty, her lawyers, and her supporters contend that she has been unjustly sentenced to death for a murder she did not commit. Shes a mother of 14 children, with a history of drug abuse and a life of poverty, who is accused of abusing her younger daughter to death.. Yarris' accounts of his life, what got him to death row, and what it's like to be an inmate are so captivating that you'll forget he is the only person featured in this entire prison . [3] Carty has claimed that she was framed by three men for her work as an informant with the Drug Enforcement Administration. However, she was smitten by Lacaze's "bad boy" persona, and their relationship soon turned sexual. Fronted by the Good Morning Britain presenter, the film will. ***** Update August 1, 2019 - From Death Penalty Information Center -Melissa Lucio gets a new trial. Good Morning Britain 's Susanna Reid meets death row inmate Darlie Routier in tonight's new documentary Death Row Women With Susanna Reid for ITV's Crime & Punishment strand. [2], On November 25, 1994, Frank handled an incident in which Rogers Lacaze, a known drug dealer, had been shot. [7] It is a very unjust system you may well be on death row because you have a court-appointed attorney who doesnt have the means to defend you and a district attorneys office who has all the means in the world to get you convicted. [18][19] No female has been executed by the State of Louisiana since Toni Jo Henry died in the State's Electric chair in 1942. An investigator with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DOC) believed this was the first contact between the two, although in her statement, Frank claims that they met some eight months before the murders. ITV is looking into the unique story of Linda Carty in a new one-off documentary, British Grandma on Death Row with Susanna Reid. The Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Butlers conviction in 1992.Rodricus Crawford was convicted and sentenced to death in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, on charges that he had smothered his infant son. [24] They assert that no scientific evidence exists that establishes that she was at the scene of the crime,[5] although her fingerprints were found in the car containing the victim's body. In the United States, the executions of 54 women prisoners are currently "on hold.". While some of them hope to have their cases reviewed. Save your data and watch offline. Guerinot's co-counsel has disputed this. You are about to exit Hulu.com to visit the Shop Hulu site, where a different Terms of Use and Privacy Policy apply. Additional terms apply. Frank believed Williams was shortchanging her on hours and pay at the Kim Anh, and wanted revenge. Lynn Marie Gracey, a private investigator who worked on Melissas appeal, remarks about Gilman: I think the guy knew that he sabotaged the case so bad that he didnt want anybody to rework it, re-investigate it. Frank refused to discuss her relationship with Lacaze during the DOC investigation, except to say that she was trying to help him. Lisa Montgomery - the only female inmate on federal death row in the US - has been executed for murder. He was found guilty as charged and sentenced to death. [22], In April 2022, a juror on the trial, Johnny Galvan Jr., wrote in the Houston Chronicle that he had wrongly succumbed to peer pressure during deliberations and had changed his vote from a life sentence to the death penalty. Earlier this month, the popular HBO show "Last Week Tonight" discussed her case in an episodeon wrongful convictions. We decided to follow five of them. - YouTube 0:00 / 1:25:47 THIS DEATH ROW DOCUMENTARY WILL CHANGE YOU FOREVER! Box 301501 Montgomery, Alabama 36130-1501 webmaster@doc.alabama.gov International Committee of the Fourth International. Then 42-year-old Maureen McDermott was a former nurse at County-USC Medical Center who allegedly hired a co-worker to kill her male roommate. 16(1) of the Convention). The second allegedly mistreated her 2-year-old daughter. Chau initially could see Frank looking for something in the kitchen. They dont stand a chance in a court of law.. At the time of the murders Antoinette Frank was working for the New Orleans Police Department as an officer. Blanche Taylor Moore Talk Read Edit View history Blanche Kiser Taylor Moore (born February 17, 1933) is an American convicted murderer and possible serial killer from Alamance County, North Carolina. Written and directed by Sabrina Van Tassel. Crawford was exonerated in 2017.Vicente Benavides was exonerated in April 2018 after 26 years on Californias death row, wrongly convicted of raping, sodomizing, and murdering his girlfriends 21-month-old daughter. Prisoners on death row in the U.S. tend to be men. [17] However, yet another lower court state judge, ruled in October 2010 that Marullo had to be recused from the Frank and Lacaze cases because it was unclear if he had been open with the defense teams about his own surprising connection to the gun used in the restaurant murders. The mother of 14 children, Melissa talks about her poverty-stricken, abusive background. DEATH. In 2007, Melissa Lucio 's 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, died after a tragic, accidental fall down a flight of stairs. [5], Under the terms of the Bilateral Convention on Consular Officers (1951) between the United States and the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom's consular officials were entitled to be informed immediately upon her detention (art. Lucio was convicted of killing her daughter, Mariah Alvarez, 15 years ago in Harlingen, Texas. Reprieve claims that her defense attorney did not present mitigating evidence. [14], On September 11, 2008 the day that the state supreme court stay was to end, a new death warrant was signed by the same judge. Director Sabrina Van Tassel Stars Kay Bess Christian Ackerley Jovelle Carty She has maintained her innocence, and Cornell Law School professor Sandra Babcock has called the prosecution "by far the weakest capital case I've ever seen". Williams started to follow, hoping to find out what was happening when shots rang out. Women on Death Row | Prison DocumentaryBehind Bars: South Cotabato Jail, Philippines: https://youtu.be/A8slYgeqGLwIn the United States, 54 women are "on hold. She was hired on February 7, 1993, and graduated from the police academy on February 28. Carty's fingerprints were in both cars. She told them that a car she had rented and her daughter's car might have been used in the crime. Her brother Rene movingly describes her childhood traumas and problems with addiction. The children rely on the school for food and hygiene.. After Frank and Lacaze left the premises, Chau tried frantically to call 911 on her cell phone, but the cooler prevented her from getting a usable signal. Mariah was Lucio's twelfth child. [3][4] Carty claimed she was framed by her co-defendants who were drug dealers[5] because she had previously been an informant. Chau told Frank she knew what she had done and cried to the officers that Frank had committed the crimes. Wallace was restrained until a backup unit arrived on the scene when he was subsequently arrested and charged with attempted murder and armed robbery. They will be joined by Reps. James White (R-Hillister), Lacey Hull (R-Houston), Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston), and Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas). "[10], During the trial, Lucio's recorded statements from her interrogation were described as a confession by Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, who was seeking re-election at the time. Then she directed them to a location where both cars were found: the live baby was in one, and the suffocated victim was in the back of the other. 8. Her story became the subject of the 2020. [1], Chau and Frank were questioned in detail while seated at different tables in the restaurant. He joined the New Orleans Police Department in 1991 and was a married father of two. After several hours of interrogation, Lucio stated, "I guess I did it. With the latest camera equipment used by well-known filmmakers working for famous production studios. Nationwide, as of October, there are over 2,500 men and women sitting on death row that consist of 1,062 Black people, 1,076 White people, 343 Latinos, 24 Native Americans, 47 Asians and one. 2007)", "State supreme court blocks ex-cop's execution date", "Antoinette Frank case to stay in Marullo's courtroom", "Kim Anh trial judge's testimony sought during appeal seeking post-conviction relief", "Death Row for Ex-Cop Who Killed Partner and 2 Others", "Victims' family in cop killing, triple murder stunned by retrial", "Rogers LaCaze granted new trial in '95 eastern New Orleans triple homicide", "Appellate court overturns new trial order for Rogers Lacaze in 1995 New Orleans triple murder", "Louisiana women's prison shuttered after flood, nearly 1,000 inmates relocated to various lockups", "Rogers Lacaze, Antoinette Frank's co-conspirator, no longer facing death after resentencing", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antoinette_Frank&oldid=1142930935, This page was last edited on 5 March 2023, at 02:18.