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. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and a Texas jury sentenced her to death. Ms. Lucio was taken for questioning and was interrogated for nearly five hours, at the time she was pregnant and was going through a shock of the loss of her young child Mariah. Although the official documents say that Lucio was born in 1968, her relatives and closest members say that she was born in 1969. If the execution is not postponed or stopped, she will receive a lethal injection on April 27, despite the mounting doubts over her guilt. There is significant evidence of her innocence that no court, no fact finder has ever considered. She tried to explain to no avail that Mariah had fallen down the stairs a few days earlier; the possibility that the childs death was not murder but the result of a tragic accident was never investigated. The lawmakers visited Lucio to update her about their efforts to stop her April 27 execution. The lawmakers say they are troubled by Lucio's case and believe her execution should be stopped as there are legitimate questions about whether she is guilty. Courtesy of the Lucio family. Legal team for Melissa Lucio appreciated. 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story", Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, What to know about Shigella bacteria as drug-resistant strain spreads, Children plead to save mother from execution, Children say toddler's death was accident, plead to save mom from execution: "She's innocent". Just two days before Melissa Lucio was scheduled to be to be put to death, a Texas court on Monday halted her execution and sent her case back for review. Legal team for Melissa Lucio. (AP) In 2019 the 5th U.S. But she has always maintained her innocence, saying that the toddler had died from an accidental fall, not from "beating and torturing", as prosecutors in Texas claimed. The woman, Melissa Lucio, a mother of 14, was found guilty back in 2008 in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah. Lucio's supporters say many of the issues in her trial trace back to the head prosecutor in the case, Armando Villalobos. Read about our approach to external linking. The state of Texas had planned to execute an anonymous woman, she said. 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 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. 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. The conservative Republican from North Texas became an unlikely ally of the condemned mother from the Rio Grande Valley. However, she has maintained her innocence ever since. Melissa Lucio Personal Life. 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. When the news broke, the small crowd gathered outside the governors public reception room at the Texas Capitol erupted with cheers: The states Court of Criminal Appeals had stayed Melissa Lucios impending execution. ", 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. This makes my day, he said. The documentary focuses on the case of Melissa Lucio, a woman convicted for the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter Mariah. 2. She says that after Mariah's family discovered the child had stopped breathing, they frantically called for help and the responding police rushed to judgment in concluding that Mariah's death had been a murder, due to profound bruising on her body. Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death, July 10, 2008, in Brownsville, Texas. They probably never will," her kids said in the letter. ", Bobby was seven when Mariah died. January 25, 2022, 9:34 AM, CST. Melissa Elizabeth Lucio is an American woman sentenced to death in Texas on August 12, 2008 for the death of her 2-year-old daughter on February 17, 2007. . 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. Potkin says it's now recognized that "having a trauma history such as Melissa had, being a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic abuse, is a risk factor and vulnerability during custodial interrogation for false confession.". Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. (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. Her second partner continued to rape her and threatened her with death. 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.". Since turning 18, he described meeting with his mother on death row as he backed her claims that Mariahs death was an accident. From the moment he walked into the interview room, Escalon testified, he knew that Lucio had done something. The notion that a person can determine anothers guilt or deception through their body language has been roundly discredited. On the other hand, Lucio said that she was pressured to have false statements regarding the allegations. Thats what brought Luna and Toon to the Capitol on April 25. As the process unfolds, she will remain on death row, her legal team said. She had fallen asleep on her parents' bed, but never woke up again. At this time, it remains unclear if Lucio's execution will be overturned. 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. More on The Lone Star Plate www.lonestarplate.showSabrina . 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. Alexandra is also another of Melissa Lucio's elder daughters. The wounds never fully healed. 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. Although Melissa repeatedly told the police that she did not kill her daughter, they continued to interrogate her for five hours until she . Evidence that could have helped Melissa, such as the testimony of expert witnesses and her other children, was not admitted into the original trial. 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 ruling, however, does delay Lucios execution indefinitely, Potkin said, while Lucio gets her first opportunity to present new evidence of her innocence claim in court. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old . Melissa Lucio, who maintained her innocence for nearly 14 years, was immediately interrogated and alleged nearly 100 times until she was manipulated by police officers into taking responsibility for Mariahs injury. Potkin says Lucio had inadequate defense during her trial. Lucio was convicted in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and sentenced to be executed. Please allow us to reconcile with Mariah's death and remember her without fresh pain, anguish, and grief. Melissa Lucio, 53, would be the first Latina executed by Texas and the first woman since 2014. . Melissa deserves to remain and die in prison. 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. On Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution, indefinitely delaying Lucios execution and ordering her trial court to review several claims of relief her team had highlighted, including her assertion that she is innocent. False confessions are more common than you might think. "I'll make a decision once it comes to me," Abbott told KRGV, an ABC News affiliate in the Rio Grande Valley. Well, it means youre going to wake up on Thursday morning, Leach replied. Later, Lucio had nine more children with her next husband, who also turned out to be abusive to her. "I hit her like this," she demonstrated by spanking a doll, sealing her fate. by Jolie McCullough March 24, 2022 3 PM Central. Texas woman on death row receives bipartisan support for clemency from state officials. Those documents, her lawyers argue, support Lucios claim that Mariahs health had deteriorated after falling down the stairs. hide caption. Melissa Elizabeth Lucio is the talk of the town after being the first woman of Hispanic descent in Texas to be sentenced to death. Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz who was not the DA at the time of Lucio's trial told Texas lawmakers last week that he would move to delay Lucio's execution if the Board of Pardons and Paroles rejects calls for clemency and the courts don't intervene. Greg Abbott could grant her clemency. One of Mariah's other siblings witnessed the fall and later, when interviewed by Child Protective Services after Mariah's death, stated that he saw his sibling fall down the stairs.". Melissa Lucio was repeatedly raped as a child, became a child bride at 16 and had 14 children to two abusive partners (The State of Texas vs. Melissa/ Hulu/ Sabrina Van Tassel) 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. CNN has reached out to prosecutors for comment. As per the data, Melissa Lucio is only 5 feet 2 inches tall. According to Lucio, she was once sexually abused by her mothers boyfriend. Melissa Lucio and her children. Since turning 18, he described meeting with his mother on death row as he backed her claims that Mariahs death was an accident. Melissa Lucio with her children. The research says that Mariah was physically abused and people like Ms. Lucio often agree to the conditions which they never convicted while being under huge pressure from the majority of people. Her lawyers said thatthestatement was wrongly interpretedby prosecutors as a murder confession, tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariahs death. But two days before the 53-year-old mother of 14 children was due to be executed, she was given a second chance. Share. This is a beating. Medical experts who reviewed Lucios case now say that Mariahs injuries were entirely consistent with a fall down the stairs, and that Farley failed to rule out that possibility before jumping to her inflammatory conclusion. "Ever since this accident took place, there has been a great division amongst us. Lucio woke up on February 15, 2007, got some of the children ready for school and then turned her attention to packing up their "run-down, second-floor apartment," the petition says. But it seems the relentless pressure from activists and lawmakers, combined with the mounting evidence of Lucios innocence, was too much to simply ignore. Melissa Lucio is seen here in an undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Lucio's children previously wrote a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, pleadingGov. 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). / CBS News. She says she was coerced to confess by a Texas Ranger during her interrogation. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Lucio had been deprived of "her constitutional right to present a meaningful defense," and overturned her conviction. According to the reports, she has gone through a continuous and repetitive highly abnormal level of vulnerability. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). Last October, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. "Or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on her for whatever reason?" The news was celebrated by Lucio, her attorneys and her family, including her son Bobby Alvarez, who told reporters he and his siblings were trying to decide what to do for Mothers Day. . After the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, the court charged her with capital murder. Who Are Melissa Lucio Kids? "Over 100 times, she asserted her innocence," said Potkin. View our online Press Pack. 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. Lucio, the only Latina on death row, was . In a phone call on Monday, Johnny Galvan, one of several jurors who supported Lucios clemency petition, expressed relief upon hearing that the court had stayed Lucios execution. Researchers say the risk of a false confession applies not only to traumatized kids, but . The lawyers asked the court to block the execution and send the case back to the lower court for further scrutiny and ultimately, a new trial. According to the state, Lucio, then a mother of 12 who struggled with drug addiction, had beaten her toddler to death in February 2007. Lucio and her team had raised nine claims with the appeals court, four of which were remanded to the trial court. The state did not test DNA or allow the defence's forensic pathologist to speak at the trial. On 27 April, Melissa Lucio was supposed to die. Texas is scheduled to execute Melissa Lucio next month. Lucios other claims did not meet statutory requirements, the appeals court found, and will not be reviewed. Watch Live: Closing arguments begin in double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, Intel review says "very unlikely" foreign adversary behind "Havana Syndrome", Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege, Watch Live: Garland testifies amid ongoing special counsel investigations, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students. hide caption. ", The stairway outside the Lucios' apartment in Harlingen, Texas, where attorneys for Melissa Lucio say her daughter Mariah fell before she died. This couldve been me, she said. She was convicted of capital murder following the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, who was discovered to have scattered bruising in various stages . At this time, it . The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. AMERICA continues to hold its breath over the fate of mother Melissa Lucio who was found guilty of capital murder in the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah. This is terrifying it should be terrifying for everybody.. April 25, 2022 by John Atsu. After repeatedly denying that she killed her daughter, Lucio finally conceded that she was responsible. The family lived in "extreme poverty," her lawyer Sandra Babcock told BBC. At the time, the family lived in a small two-bedroom, second-floor flat. Melissa Lucio is seen here in an undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 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.". 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