But for us, whats clear is that theres a recognition by the court that something is wrong and needs to be fixed.. Are you serious!? Lucios other claims did not meet statutory requirements, the appeals court found, and will not be reviewed. Who is Melissa Lucio? We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. For other inquiries, Contact Us. 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The two women friends and formerly incarcerated activists had joined a broad coalition of supporters pressing every lever they could think of to try to stop the execution, scheduled for April 27. Lucio was pregnant with twin boys at the time of Mariah's death and when she was interrogated. 2023 Cable News Network. (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. Among those calling for a stay of execution are a bipartisan group of 103 members of the Texas legislature - including 32 Republican . And she did, saying she spanked the child, but never admitting to the use of deadly force. Learn how your comment data is processed. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reviewed Lucio's case and overturned it, finding that she had been denied the opportunity to present a full defense at her trial and that a new trial was warranted. The evidence presented in this case shows that, at about 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 17, 2007, paramedics were dispatched to an apartment where Melissa Lucio lived with nine of her children and an adult male named Robert Alvarez, who was the father of at least seven of these children and whom Melissa Lucio referred to as her husband. This couldve been me, she said. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. One of her other daughters, Adriana, stands at left. Tivon Schardl, supervisory assistant federal public defender in the Capital Habeas Unit in Austin, and part of Lucio's current defense team, said the jurors were not given the full picture: "There's been just a concerted effort to keep this evidence from being considered.". Or sleeping well. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. AMY GOODMAN: Melissa Lucio is a mother of 14 children. False confessions are more common than you might think. Naturally, she has brown hair and almost no eyebrow. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. His younger siblings were taken in by cousins, and many did well after leaving school. 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. Researchers say the risk of a false confession applies not only to traumatized kids, but . He has spent his entire adult life fighting for her release. "We ask you not to tear those wounds open again. But she, her family and attorneys say she is innocent and was wrongfully convicted of capital murder. 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. April 28, 2022 5:23 PM EDT. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Toon wondered why Lucios story wasnt getting as much attention as the cases of some of the men on Texass death row. They probably never will," her kids said in the letter. (AP) ", "Everything," he replied. Mariahs lifeless body arrived at a hospital in Harlingen, Texas, covered in bruises, which authorities immediately assumed were evidence of abuse. Prosecutors at her . Before all this, "we were a large family and we were very united", her eldest son, John, told BBC. ", Bobby was seven when Mariah died. Lucio, 53, is a Mexican American woman who has struggled against poverty and abuse since childhood. Thats what brought Luna and Toon to the Capitol on April 25. After her conviction for Mariahs murder, Melissas children were taken from her care. Upon examination, Mariah was found to be in a fetal condition, with various stages of bruising and injuries to her head and contusions to her kidneys, lungs, and spinal cord. The state of Texas has scheduled the execution in the Melissa Lucio case for April 27. . Who is Melissa Lucio? At the time of the abuse she was only 6 years old and could not do anything, but the conditions remained the same for at least two years. The former Cameron County district attorney recently spent several years in federal prison for bribery and extortion. Lucio, 53, is a Mexican American woman who has struggled against poverty and abuse since childhood. At the time of Lucio's trial, Villalobos was running for reelection against a challenger who criticized him for not thoroughly investigating or prosecuting charges of child abuse. The film screened at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and later won Best Documentary at the Raindance Film Festival. But Lucio had no history of child abuse. by Jolie McCullough March 24, 2022 3 PM Central. During Lucio's 2008 trial, prosecutors claimed she beat her daughter Mariah to death. But minutes before the boards decision was anticipated, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued its ruling. Lucio's attorneys say Villalobos wanted to make an example of Lucio to prove he was tough on crime. According to Lucio, she was once sexually abused by her mothers boyfriend. Lucios lawyers argue that Dr. Norma Farley, the forensic pathologist who autopsied Mariah, misled the jury when she insisted that Mariahs injuries could only have resulted from a fatal beating. / CBS News. Police blamed Lucio for . Potkin said Lucio was . The stairway outside the Lucios' apartment in Harlingen, Texas, where attorneys for Melissa Lucio say her daughter Mariah fell before she died. At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. She admitted that she had spanked Mariah on the butt, but denied abusing her. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old . In 2008, she was found guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter. Discovery Company. Although the official documents say that Lucio was born in 1968, her relatives and closest members say that she was born in 1969. "It looks from the outside like somebody has gotten, say, punched," said Schardl. 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. 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. Ms. Lucio's passive and apparently flat demeanor is best explained by her history of repeated sexual, physical, and emotional abuse since childhood.". Among their arguments is that Lucio was particularly prone to providing a false confession as a lifelong survivor of sexual abuse and domestic violence. And so she has to confront that reality, too, that the execution could go forward.". Her life was worth nothing to them. 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. "At the same time, here we are, seven days away from her execution date. Among them is one of her sons, John Lucio. The Board then announced it would not vote at that time. asked Luciano. He was accompanied by family members as well as Sabrina Van Tassel, the director of The State of Texas v. Melissa, who had traveled from Paris to witness Lucios execution. Leach, a co-chair of the House Criminal Justice Reform Caucus, worked with Democratic Rep. Joe Moody to muster an unprecedented level of support for Lucio among an ideologically diverse group of more than 80 state representatives more than half of the members of the Texas House, a body that rarely comes to a decisive consensus about anything. appreciated. As a result, they argue, in part, executing her would violate constitutional guarantees of a right to protection from cruel and unusual punishment. The impact has been felt longest by Melissa's family. "Oh, it's definitely exculpatory," Schardl replied. "Or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on her for whatever reason?" Although interviews with Lucio's children, her mother, and her sisters give the clear sense that Melissa's family wants her home, it never really feels like the family members get comfortable . The 53-year-old was convicted in 2008 for the murder of her 2-year- old daughter, and would be the first Latina killed by the state if her execution goes as planned. "We ask you not to tear those wounds open again. An autopsy later showed that the toddler had bruising to her kidney and lungs, according to local media. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. Before her execution was stayed amid the emergence of new evidence, BBC spoke to her family and supporters. At this time, it . At times, they were homeless and relied on food banks for meals, according to a clemency petition issued by her lawyers. According to prosecutors, the injuries inflicted on Mariah were the result of physical abuse, while Lucios lawyer says the daughter was injured because she fell down the stairs two days before her death. Later, after receiving many letters, punishments, executions and defense statements from Lucios lawyer, Lucio was still being interrogated for the murder of her then youngest child of a total of 12 children born to her due to two marriages. 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