Plinther protest: Brian Capaloff, standing by a cut-out of Linda Carty, holds up extracts from her message Image via Evening Standard
A British grandmother on death row in Texas yesterday “appeared” on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth in an appeal to Londoners to save her from lethal injection. Linda Carty was sentenced to death in 2002 for her role in the kidnap and murder of a twenty-five-year-old woman, but her trial has been criticized as “catastrophically flawed.”
A life-size cutout of Carty was placed on the plinth alongside a recorded message as part of Antony Gormley’s “One & Other” exhibition. In the message, which began with “Hello, Trafalgar Square,” and was recorded at her prison in Texas on Tuesday, she talked about the injustice of her trial, her background, and her love of cricket.
Carty, who could be executed next May, said: “I’m sorry if I sound like a desperate woman. I am desperate, because the British people may be my last hope. If they ask for my life to be spared, maybe Texas will listen.” Brian Capaloff, an opponent of the death penalty, won the plinth slot. He contacted legal charity Reprieve, which put him in touch with Carty. The charity’s representatives were with him today. Via: (Artforum)
