Carlton Gary’s Wife Speaks Out, Board Continues to Deliberate

Debra Gary never thought she’d ever marry someone on death row. But after reading a letter Carlton Gary sent her friend, in response to receiving a Bible in the mail, Debra reassessed: “When I read this letter he wrote to my friend, it felt like the words were coming out of me.“

Since the beginning, Debra has believed he was innocent. So much that when she followed the story on the news before meeting him, she says she prayed for him.

The couple met in 1991. Five years later they were married. But five years earlier Carlton was convicted and sentenced to death for the rapes and murders of three elderly Columbus women.

Debra says she believes Carlton’s criminal history is ancient history: “He was arrested for burglary, and before he was arrested, he had left that life alone and was going back to church. He left that life alone.“

Carlton even adopted Debra’s daughter Charity. She was six when she first met him on death row. Now she is 25 years old. Like her mother, she doesn’t believe his time is up.

“Because it’s not going to be his last meal!“ Charity laughed when asked why Carlton declined to choose a final meal before his scheduled lethal injection, Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles continues to deliberate. It is unlikely it will reach a decision today.

“There’s one thing solid in this case, and that’s DNA testing,“ said Jack Martin, Carlton’s counsel. “It would be a sin for us to execute a man who’s innocent especially if there is evidence that can tell you whether he is guilty or not.“