Moments later, he interrupted the interview. On the other hand, Lucio said that she was pressured to have false statements regarding the allegations. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. Melissa Lucio was found guilty of a very serious crime called "capital murder". Her lawyers said thatthestatement was wrongly interpretedby prosecutors as a murder confession, tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariahs death. Two days later, Mariah went to sleep and didnt wake up. View our online Press Pack. "Melissa didn't observe the fall herself. Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (born June 18, 1969) is the first woman of Hispanic descent to be sentenced to death in the U.S. state 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. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. On February 15, 2007, Mariah fell a flight of stairs while the family was busy settling things to transfer to a new house. She married at age 16. John Oliver, the comedian, featured the case in a segment on wrongful convictions on his HBO news programme last month, and Kim Kardashian earlier this month tweeted a letter to the Texas governor signed by nine of Melissa's children pleading for her life to be spared. If youre gonna bring it, bring it right. ", Now, the power to save Lucio lies in the hands of Texas' Republican Governor Greg Abbott, the Board of Pardons and Parole, and the current Cameron County District Attorney, Luis V. Saenz, whose office said in a statement to CBS News: "A jury of (Lucio's) peers rendered to her a verdict. And so she has to confront that reality, too, that the execution could go forward.". . 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. The biased investigation supported a prosecution led by a criminally corrupt prosecutor centered on an unreliable, contaminated confession and false scientific evidence that misled and inflamed the jury. Were confident that with the new evidence of innocence, if Melissa was retried today that she would be acquitted, Innocence Project attorney Vanessa Potkin told reporters on Monday afternoon. The former Cameron County district attorney recently spent several years in federal prison for bribery and extortion. ? she exclaimed through tears. And today shesno longer anonymous. Who Are Melissa Lucio Kids? Shortly after the court delivered the stay, state Rep. Jeff Leach called Lucio. Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio, dressed in white, leads a group of seven Texas lawmakers in prayer on April 6 in a room at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. The stairway outside the Lucios' apartment in Harlingen, Texas, where attorneys for Melissa Lucio say her daughter Mariah fell before she died. Armando Villalobos, the district attorney who brought the charges, is now in jail for bribery unrelated to the Lucio case, but that took place when she was tried. Texas mother Melissa Lucio, who was convicted in the death of her two-year-old daughter Mariah, is scheduled to be executed April 27. Lucio, the only Latina on death row, was . Over the years, it has routinely allowed executions to go forward even in cases where there were serious questions about a defendants guilt. At Lucio's trial, expert witnesses for the defense were not allowed to testify as to why she might have given a false confession. Melissa Lucio's son has vowed to "keep fighting until she gets to come home" as the case of the Texas mother-of-14 heads to state court following her last-minute stay of execution.. Bobby . 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 . "Being the eldest was hard, not only because of the responsibility but because I would like to see our family together again.". Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. At the time, the family was moving homes, and she reportedly fell due to her physical disability, which left her feet turned to the side, making her unable to walk and prone to tripping. April 11, 2022 / 11:29 AM Lucio, 53, is a Mexican American woman who has struggled against poverty and abuse since childhood. ", "Everything," he replied. She was set to be executed on April 27, 2022, butwas granted a stay of execution two days priorby the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. While in interrogation, Lucio had denied murdering her child dozens of times, but her lawyers argue that her history of sexual assault and abuse often leads to false confessions, NPR reports. The Board then announced it would not vote at that time. Yes, the ruling by the appeals court does nothing to modify Lucios sentence. Mariah, on being examined, was found to be in a fetal condition with various stages of bruising and injuries on her head, and contusions of the kidneys, lungs, and spinal cord. "It looks from the outside like somebody has gotten, say, punched," said Schardl. After the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, the court charged her with capital murder. "If Melissa does not get a stay by a certain day, then I will do what I have to do and stop it," Saenz said, as the Austin American-Statesman reported. Lucio was married at the age of 16 and gave birth to five children with her husband, who constantly abused Lucio throughout their relationship. Although Melissa repeatedly told the police that she did not kill her daughter, they continued to interrogate her for five hours until she . "If they go through with it, they'll be killing an innocent woman.". We certainly want Melissa to get her hearing as quickly as possible, Schardl said. She received abuse throughout her childhood and teenage years. ", First published on April 11, 2022 / 11:29 AM. "Do it real hard," he said. After her conviction for Mariah's murder, Melissa's children were taken from her care. John and his wife, Michelle, were filming an interview with Univision in their hotel lobby when John stepped away to take a phone call from Assistant Federal Public Defender Tivon Schardl. Some of that evidence, says Potkin, was not disclosed to the defense as they were preparing for trial. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Among those calling for a stay of execution are a bipartisan group of 103 members of the Texas legislature - including 32 Republican . 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.". "Over 100 times, she asserted her innocence," said Potkin. 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. She was abused throughout her childhood and adolescence. In an interview with the Texas Observer, Tivon Schardl, a lawyer on Lucio's appellate defense team, called her case "as clear a . Calls for mercy grow days before Melissa Lucio is set to be executed, I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence, Lucio said in a statement. Melissa Lucio is seen here in an undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Many were put up for adoption while others were split up and sent to live with relatives or placed in the custody of the . Mariahs lifeless body arrived at a hospital in Harlingen, Texas, covered in bruises, which authorities immediately assumed were evidence of abuse. Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death in Texas after she confessed to beating her 2-year-old daughter, who later died. Mariah reportedly did not have any visible injuries, but after Lucio put her down for a nap, she did not wake up and was later taken to the hospital, where she was declared dead. 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. At the time of his mother's arrest, John was 17 years old. According to the state, Lucio, then a mother of 12 who struggled with drug addiction, had beaten her toddler to death in February 2007. According to court documents submitted by Lucio's attorneys, she was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend starting at the age of 6 abuse that lasted for two years . SAN ANTONIO - The governor of Texas is under pressure to stop the planned execution of a mother convicted of killing her child. At the time, the family was moving homes, and she reportedly fell due to her physical disability, which left her feet turned to the side, making her unable to walk and prone to tripping. This makes my day, he said. "We ask you not to tear those wounds open again. On Monday, the CCA ordered Garcia to either recuse herself or have another judge rule on her disqualification within three days, Schardl explained. "The older ones, we were more or less of age, we were the losers," he said woefully. This child had more bruises than Ive ever seen in any case that I had before, she said. Speaking at the press conference, Keith responded to Saenzs statement. Texas is scheduled to execute Melissa Lucio next month. Lucio's children previously wrote a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, pleadingGov. The second claim says new scientific evidence would prevent Lucios conviction. The detective handed Melissa Lucio a plastic doll and asked her to spank it. Have you heard the news? The third claim by Lucios attorneys says that scientific evidence shows Mariah was not murdered. January 25, 2022, 9:34 AM, CST. During the five-hour-long interrogation, officers berated and . he asked. That is our criminal jurisprudence system and it is working., The notion that Saenz would be eager to retry Lucio rather than drop the charges offended Death Penalty Action activist Charles Keith, who spent the past several months traveling to the Cameron County courthouse in Brownsville. She refuted Gilman's claims that some of Lucio's older children were unruly and hard to handle by foster parents. That is wonderful. ", Speaking to CBS Mornings he said: 'If they go through with it, they'll be killing an innocent woman.. Who is Melissa Lucio? 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. Published Melissa Lucio was the epitome of every system in the state of Texas failing at every level: education, health, faith community, she said. The first claim argues no juror would have convicted Lucio if prosecutors had not presented false, misleading and scientifically invalid testimony by experts. 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