Women on Death Row

On July 10, 2008, Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death for the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, and in January 2022 she was given an official execution date of April 27, 2022. Melissa would be the first Hispanic woman put to death in the state of Texas. With only three months before Melissa’s execution, the Innocence Project digs into her case and uncovers staggering problems, but authorities show no sign of intervening, despite growing interest from the public and a bi-partisan group of politicians. In Melissa’s final hours, the nation erupts in protest in fear that an innocent woman is about to be put to death.

In 1998, a fire in Sandi Nieves’ home that started under suspicious circumstances led to her conviction for arson, the murders of her four daughters, and the attempted murder of her son David, who survived the fire. Sandi is awaiting the possibility of a new trial and says her only reason for existing is the thought of one day being able to talk to her son.

On May 23, 1995, Kerry Lyn Dalton was sentenced to death for the torture and murder of Irene “Melanie” May. Melanie was last seen alive on June 26, 1988, and because she was a meth addict with no fixed address, police did little to investigate her disappearance. It wasn’t until four years later that police arrested Kerry and two others after several witnesses told authorities that the three openly bragged about beating, stabbing, and injecting Melanie with battery acid before dismembering her body and burying her in the desert.

Linda Carty was sentenced to death on February 19, 2001 for the kidnapping of three-day-old newborn Ray Cabrera, and the kidnapping and murder of his mother, Joana Rodriguez. While she was living in Texas at the time of the crime, controversy surrounds Carty’s case, as she is a native of St. Kitts and is a British citizen. Those who worked on the case and experts on death row and the criminal justice system reflect on the case and what led to Carty’s death sentence.

In 2009 Emilia Carr and her boyfriend Joshua Fulgham were convicted for the first degree murder and kidnapping of Heather Strong, and Emilia alone was sentenced to death. Emilia discusses her experience throughout the investigation of the murder and her experience on death row. Emilia continues to maintain her innocence.