Lucio's supporters say many of the issues in her trial trace back to the head prosecutor in the case, Armando Villalobos. One of her other daughters, Adriana, stands at left. Error compounded error, the lawyers wrote in their petition to the Court of Criminal Appeals. 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Melissa Lucio was pregnant with twins when she was arrested in 2007. he asked. But the trial judge ruled that testimony "irrelevant," according to court documents. Her husband continued to abuse her physically, emotionally, and sexually, producing 5 children even at the age of being minor, and abandoned the whole family leaving behind Lucio and her kids. Separately, all eyes on Monday had been on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which had been expected to vote on a recommendation for clemency in Lucios case. Legal team for Melissa Lucio But Lucio had no history of child abuse. SAN ANTONIO - The governor of Texas is under pressure to stop the planned execution of a mother convicted of killing her child. AMY GOODMAN: Melissa Lucio is a mother of 14 children. Without any legal representation, Melissa was fiercely interrogated by Cameron County TX police for 7 hours. But at least four of those jurors now agree Lucio should get a new trial, given the new evidence and testimony they didn't see. "I am not here to shout," he said. And despite Mondays stay of execution, she remains on death row, Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, said in a news conference Monday. Research says Mariah was physically abused, and people like Ms. Lucio often agree to conditions they never condemned while under tremendous pressure from the majority of people. Courtesy of the Lucio family. She was sexually abused by one of her family members (her mothers boyfriend) at the age of 6. An autopsy later showed that the toddler had bruising to her kidney and lungs, according to local media. More than a quarter of people exonerated by the Innocence Project in recent decades had confessed to the crime they allegedly committed, as Science reported. Please give us the chance for closure. Her family and friends are protesting her punishment and claim she . Two days later, Mariah went to sleep and didnt wake up. ", Bobby was seven when Mariah died. Are you serious!? According to the reports, she has gone through a continuous and repetitive highly abnormal level of vulnerability. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. There have also been questions about the testimony provided by the medical examiner alleging that injuries on Mariah's body were clear signs of abuse. Melissa Lucio, who maintained her innocence for nearly 14 years, was immediately taken under interrogation and was asserted nearly 100 times until she was manipulated by the police officers to take the responsibility for Mariahs injury. She could see herself in Lucios story. The stairway outside the Lucios' apartment in Harlingen, Texas, where attorneys for Melissa Lucio say her daughter Mariah fell before she died. Among those calling for a stay of execution are a bipartisan group of 103 members of the Texas legislature - including 32 Republican . And so she has to confront that reality, too, that the execution could go forward.". She is the mother of 14 children, including Mariah. The courts order sends the case back to Cameron County, where the trial court will be tasked with considering evidence on four claims that cut to the heart of the states case against Lucio. Melissa Lucio holds her daughter Mariah in this undated photograph. After her conviction for Mariahs murder, Melissas children were taken from her care. On the other hand, Lucio said that she was pressured to have false statements regarding the allegations. This couldve been me, she said. Before her execution was stayed amid the emergence of new evidence, BBC spoke to her family and supporters. It simply has not been the same in the past 15 years," he said. Detectives rushed to judgment and, just two hours after Mariah died, took Ms. Lucio in for questioning. The 53-year-old is in the news because she is facing execution. Lucios attorneys say those injuries were actually the result of a fall down stairs outside the familys apartment. That is wonderful. And if he didnt have none 15 years ago, you dont have any today.. Im hoping its not the same evidence Mr. Villalobos had. She should never have the opportunity to abuse another child again. Keith knew all too well what Lucios loved ones had just been through: His own brother, Kevin Keith, came less than two weeks from execution in Ohio despite doubts over his guilt. Potkin said that now is a complicated time emotionally for Lucio. Police blamed Lucio for . But minutes before the boards decision was anticipated, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued its ruling. But in 2021, the full court upheld her conviction for procedural reasons a technicality. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and a Texas jury sentenced her to death. When the . There were also allegations of corruption on the part of the prosecution, which did not figure into the case. According to local media, others are still convinced she committed the crime - Melissa had a previously had a history of drug use and some of her children had been taken into care, the jurors heard at her trial - though there was no evidence of abuse. On April 25, 2022, the Texas court granted a stay of execution and directed the Cameron County 138th Circuit Court to review Lucios case with new evidence of her innocence regarding the death of her daughter Mariah. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles Clemency Office declined to comment, and Abbott didn't return a request for comment. Many were put up for adoption while others were split up and sent to live with relatives or placed in the custody of the state. He said she fell down a flight of stairs, and died two days later. Thats what brought Luna and Toon to the Capitol on April 25. On April 27, 53-year-old Melissa Elizabeth Lucio is scheduled to be strapped to a gurney in the Texas execution chamber and given a lethal dose of drugs. In 2007, Lucio's daughter Mariah passed away after sustaining injuries during a fall down a flight of stairs. As a poor woman of minority background living in south Texas, she had no money to hire a lawyer and was instead given a court-appointed attorney, who made errors that resulted in an unfair trial, Melissa's current lawyers have said. View our online Press Pack. She said she was constantly sexually abused by her first husband, who later left and separated with her five children. The end result could be that she could obtain a new trial, Potkin said, and were confident if Melissa was retried today that she would be acquitted.. In 2014, Villalobos was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for racketeering and extortion. The lawmakers visited Lucio to update her about their efforts to stop her April 27 execution. They implored him to step up and withdraw it. Melissa Lucio's high-profile fight to overturn her conviction for murdering her daughter has gained the support of politicians, celebrities and even members of the jury that originally sentenced . CNN . More on The Lone Star Plate www.lonestarplate.showSabrina . "They badgered, berated and yelled at her until she finally agreed to their demands and insistence that she was guilty of harming her child," said Ms Babcock, who argues that there was a "rush" to judge her guilty. Saenz's office did not respond to a request for comment on the case. Selina, the fifth of Lucio's 14 children, initially came forward on TikTok back in 2021 after the release of "The State Of Texas vs. Melissa," a documentary on Hulu that covers the case and . Former Cameron County . She was sexually abused by one of her family members (her mother's boyfriend) at the age of 6. Share. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and a Texas jury sentenced her to death. Melissa Lucio is the first woman of an American Hispanic descent who was sentenced to death in Texas. In this April 6, 2022 photo provided by Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach, Rep. Leach stands next to death row inmate Melissa Lucio during a visit by a group of seven lawmakers to the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. Protestors outside the Cameron County Courthouse advocate to overturn Melissa Lucio's death sentence. At the time of Mariah's death in 2007, Ms. Lucio lived with Mariah's father, Robert Alvarez, and nine children; the family had just moved into a new apartment. Photograph: The Guardian. by Jolie McCullough March 24, 2022 3 PM Central. Among the experts her attorneys sought to put on the stand was a psychologist who planned to testify that Lucio's history as a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse helped explain why she told interrogators what they wanted to hear even if it wasn't true. Lucio, the only Latina on death row, was . In shock and grieving the loss of her baby the youngest of her 12 children at the time Ms. Lucio was taken into police custody and immediately blamed for her daughter's death. She was abused throughout her childhood and adolescence. After five hours of questioning, during which Lucio expressed her innocence more than 100 times, she eventually said "I guess I did it" when asked if she was responsible for some of her daughter's injuries. (Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach via AP), halted her execution and sent her case back for, But she, her family and attorneys say she is innocent and was wrongfully convicted. Melissa Lucio, a Mexican-American who is facing execution in Texas on April 27, 2022, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death after her daughter, Mariah, sustained injuries from an accidental fall. Mariahs father, Roberto Antonio Alvarez was also arrested in relation to her death but he was only convicted of endangering a child and sentenced to four years in prison. Her legal team, including attorneys from the federal public defender office in Austin and the Innocence Project, had filed a clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, asking them to recommend that Gov. If the execution is not postponed or stopped, she will receive a lethal injection on April 27, despite the mounting doubts over her guilt. hide caption. After repeatedly denying that she killed her daughter, Lucio finally conceded that she was responsible. Lucio's thoughts are with her children, Potkin said, as she talks to friends about the roles they could play in the life of her kids if she is not alive after next week. She refuted Gilman's claims that some of Lucio's older children were unruly and hard to handle by foster parents. Human error to blame for deadly train crash, says Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. The Board then announced it would not vote at that time. Mariahs father, Roberto Antonio Alvarez was also arrested in relation to her death but he was only convicted of endangering a child and sentenced to four years in prison. Now 32, John struggled with his own brushes with the law, but has tried to put his life back together again: he returned to school, he began running marathons and triathlons. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Lucio had been deprived of "her constitutional right to present a meaningful defense," and overturned her conviction. Ms Lucio was taken in for questioning and was interrogated for almost five hours while she was pregnant and going through the shock of losing her young child, Mariah. She saw Mariah at the bottom with a bleeding lip, but she otherwise didn't appear to be seriously injured. Son Bobby Alvarez, who was seven when his little sister died, described how he cried every night wanting my momma back after she was taken away. By Maurice Chammah. Theyd also filed a petition with the Court of Criminal Appeals, arguing that new evidence undermined Lucios conviction. Or sleeping well. April 28 2022, 3:00 a.m. Melissa Lucio's loved ones react to her stay of execution during a press conference in Gatesville, Texas, on April 25, 2022. Lucios father died when Lucio was an infant, and her family moved to the Rio Grande Valley when Lucio was almost 3 to 4 years old. At times, they were homeless and relied on food banks for meals, according to a clemency petition issued by her lawyers. Attorneys for Lucio have long argued that Saenz has a conflict of interest due to the fact that Lucios defense attorney at trial, Peter Gilman, now works for him. Child Protective Services was present in the family's life, but there was never an accusation of abuse by any of her children, lawyer Vanessa Potkin said. Shortly after the court delivered the stay, state Rep. Jeff Leach called Lucio. Five of the trial's 12 jurors have called for her clemency. "The older ones, we were more or less of age, we were the losers," he said woefully. On the other hand, Lucio said she was pressured into giving false information about the allegations. "That is what I cherish the most. It's a disorder, she says, that in other cases has been "confused for child abuse because it causes extensive bleeding and bruising throughout the body. 2023 Cable News Network. The family lived in "extreme poverty," her lawyer Sandra Babcock told BBC. The legal team also addressed lingering questions about whether Saenz would even be eligible to retry Lucio. Lucio was convicted in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and sentenced to be executed. Two days later, she could not be woken from a nap and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Still trying to come to terms with the reality of her child Those documents, her lawyers argue, support Lucios claim that Mariahs health had deteriorated after falling down the stairs. Witness testimony from one of Mariah's siblings about the 2-year-old's fall down an uneven staircase two days before her death never made it before the jury, and expert witnesses were not allowed to testify on reasons why Lucio might have made a false "confession.". The movie was played at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020 and later won the honor of best documentary at the Raindance Film Festival. Melissa Lucio's personal life remained in the dark for many years until the death of her daughter and she was sentenced to jail. Melissa Lucio is the mother of 14 children, five from her first marriage and nine from her second, according to the Innocence Project. "Or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on her for whatever reason?" I even told her myself that I consider her my best friend. Lucio was kind and gentle; Toon couldnt imagine that she was capable of killing anyone, let alone her own daughter. A pathologist interviewed by The Intercept says the medical examiner who conducted Mariah's autopsy jumped to conclusions and ignored evidence that Mariah died due to an accident. Greg Abbott commute Lucios sentence, or at least grant a 120-day reprieve from execution. Two days later, her father called police when Mariah suddenly stopped breathing. Lucio, 52, had been set to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday for the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city . Melissa's execution date is set for April 27, 2022. "You start peeling back the layers and you see that it is a case about corrupt prosecutors, it's a case about unfairness," Ms Babcock said. The wounds never fully healed. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). Mariah's body was riddled with bruises and the medical examiner automatically declared Mariah's death by homicide via child abuse. What does that mean?. We put our hands up to the glass, and we all began to cry., The press conference was still underway when Saenz, the Cameron County district attorney, released a statement responding to the stay of execution: I welcome the opportunity to prosecute this case in the courtroom, where witnesses testify under oath, where witnesses can be cross-examined, where evidence is governed by the rules of evidence and criminal procedure, and where the court rules pursuant to the rule of law, it read. Naturally, she has brown hair and almost no eyebrow. Despite receiving the death penalty, she was described by campaign organisations as a "loving and caring mother," who tried her best to provide financially for her family. Melissa Lucio [represents] everything society despises she's a woman, Hispanic, poor, she has 14 children. Although Melissa repeatedly told the police that she did not kill her daughter, they continued to interrogate her for five hours until she . "Do it real hard," he said. Lucio was pregnant with twin boys at the time of Mariah's death and when she was interrogated. She is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday. The appeals court order sends Lucios case back to her trial court in the 138th Judicial District in Cameron County, along the border with Mexico at Texass southernmost tip. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Melissa Lucio was pregnant with twins when she was arrested in 2007, was granted a stay of execution two days prior, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). "She is not guilty of the death of my baby sister.". Greg Abbott to spare their mom's life. She was set to be executed on April 27, 2022, but was granted a stay of execution two days prior by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Villalobos could not be reached for comment. "We ask you not to tear those wounds open again. It was like, "Ugh, let her rot in Hell." Lucio's current lawyers say new evidence shows that Mariah's injuries, including the blow to the head, were caused by a fall down a steep staircase, as Melissa and some of her children have . She was sexually abused at the age of 6 by one of her family members (her mothers boyfriend). Lucio had already spent five hours that night, in February 2007, answering questions about the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. ", First published on April 11, 2022 / 11:29 AM. Two days later, Mariah went to take a nap and did not wake up. Published May 2, 2022 10:56 a.m. PDT. Melissa Lucio is scheduled to be executed next week for a crime she says she didn't commit one that may not have even occurred. Although the official documents state that Lucio was born in 1968, her relatives and closest members say that she was born in 1969. Potkin said Lucio was . 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