After years of unsuccessful appeals, Melissa Lucio, a Rio Grande Valley woman convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, has learned the date of her execution April 27. Alexandra is also another of Melissa Lucio's elder daughters. In 2007, Lucio's family was living in a second-floor apartment in Harlingen, in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, and the family was preparing and packing to move to a new home. She gave birth to the twins while in jail and was forced to give them up for adoption. Speaking at the press conference, Keith responded to Saenzs statement. ", "Everything," he replied. asked Luciano. DeSantis won't say he's running. Lucios son John was in Gatesville, Texas, on Monday afternoon, preparing for a visit with his mother at the nearby Mountain View unit. . There is a motion pending in the trial court to disqualify him from further participation in this case, Schardl said. The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. Please allow us to reconcile with Mariah's death and remember her without fresh pain, anguish, and grief. But in 2021, the full court upheld her conviction for procedural reasons a technicality. Instead, police subjected Lucio to a punishing late-night interrogation lasting more than five hours. Moments later, he interrupted the interview. Shortly after the court delivered the stay, state Rep. Jeff Leach called Lucio. In 2019 the 5th U.S. On April 27, the day Lucio was set to die, they held another rally outside the Cameron Country DAs office, this time calling on Saenz to drop the charges. While bouncing around online, Toon came across the documentary The State of Texas v. Melissa, which confirmed her instincts that Lucio was innocent. 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. SAN ANTONIO - The governor of Texas is under pressure to stop the planned execution of a mother convicted of killing her child. At the age of 16 she became a child bride but once again had to face an abusive marriage. Melissa Lucios loved ones react to her stay of execution during a press conference in Gatesville, Texas, on April 25, 2022. on about your day, ask yourself: How likely is it that the story you just read would have been produced by a different news outlet if The Intercept hadnt done it? After her conviction for Mariah's murder, Melissa's children were taken from her care. Similarly, movie personalities have produced Melissa Lucios story in either documentaries, shorts, or movies, but no one could deny the fact that she would be sentenced to death. Read about our approach to external linking. Some of that evidence, says Potkin, was not disclosed to the defense as they were preparing for trial. Melissa Lucio is seen here in an undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. "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. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren". Melissa Lucio and her children. Lucio's attorneys say Villalobos wanted to make an example of Lucio to prove he was tough on crime. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The first claim argues no juror would have convicted Lucio if prosecutors had not presented false, misleading and scientifically invalid testimony by experts. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old . Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach via AP 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 . Lucio's supporters say many of the issues in her trial trace back to the head prosecutor in the case, Armando Villalobos. Supporters of Melissa Lucio embrace at the Texas Capitol after learning that the Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution on April 25, 2022. The detective handed Melissa Lucio a plastic doll and asked her to spank it. She was sexually abused at the age of 6 by one of her family members (her mothers boyfriend). 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. 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. Legal team for Melissa Lucio. Melissa Lucio, 53, would be the first Latina executed by Texas and the first woman since 2014. . 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. According to the prosecutor, the injuries that were made to Mariah were the results of physical abuse while Lucios attorney says that the injuries were made to the daughter because she fell down the stairs two days before her death. 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. "There is significant evidence of her innocence that no court, no fact finder has ever considered," Potkin says. Juanita Hernandez and her son Juan hug Esperanza Hope Trevino, the mother of Melissa Lucio, during a vigil in San Juan, Tex., on April 22, 2022. They hope to persuade the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Toon wondered why Lucios story wasnt getting as much attention as the cases of some of the men on Texass death row. . . A Texas mother convicted of murdering her 2-year-old child has been granted a stay of execution just two days before she was scheduled to die. According to NPR, Lucio is an abuse survivor and was sexually assaulted multiple times starting at the age of six, and was then physically . She is scheduled to be put to death on April 27. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. 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. Earlier, Lucio was sentenced to death back in 2008 and at the time when she was imprisoned, she was pregnant with twins, whom she had to give up for adoption as she could not have the nourishment of the babies in jail. "If they go through with it, they'll be killing an innocent woman.". The family lived in "extreme poverty," her lawyer Sandra Babcock told BBC. Its unclear how long the process could take. Lucio's lawyers say the evidence shows it was a tragic accident. Over the last month, Leach, a self-professed supporter of capital punishment, became increasingly vocal about his concerns, vowing to do everything I can in every way possible to prevent Lucios execution. Many were put up for adoption while others were split up and sent to live with relatives or placed in the custody of the . Since turning 18, he described meeting with his mother on death row as he backed her claims that Mariahs death was an accident. To prevent Lucio from being executed, Texas Gov. 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. 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. 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. 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. On the other hand, Lucio said that she was pressured to have false statements regarding the allegations. She said that she was all the time sexually abused by her first husband who later left her along with five children and parted away. But that's not why the American citizen of Mexican origin has made the headlines. But jurors didn't hear testimony from any of Lucio's kids. She said she was constantly sexually abused by her first husband, who later left and separated with her five children. Her lawyers said thatthestatement was wrongly interpretedby prosecutors as a murder confession, tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariahs death. 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. For a time, the only access they had to water was through their neighbours' houses or from the parish.". In 2020, a documentary about the case history of Melissa Lucio was directed by Sabrina Van Tassel titled The State of Texas vs. Melissa. ", The stairway outside the Lucios' apartment in Harlingen, Texas, where attorneys for Melissa Lucio say her daughter Mariah fell before she died. At this time, it . That includes the medical examiner who Lucios application says conducted Mariahs autopsy, ignored indications that Mariahs fatal condition had another cause, and testified the injuries could only have been caused by abuse without exploring the fall down the stairs two days before. "Oh, it's definitely exculpatory," Schardl replied. Lucio, 53, is a Mexican American woman who has struggled against poverty and abuse since childhood. And if he didnt have none 15 years ago, you dont have any today.. Ultimately, the two women hooked up with Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, who had organized a campaign around Lucios case across Texas and beyond. This couldve been me, she said. "It was an accident," he said. Villalobos could not be reached for comment. She was sexually abused by one of her family members (her mother's boyfriend) at the age of 6. Melissa later told police that when she realised that Mariah was no longer inside the unit, she left to look for her and found her crying by the staircase, with a bit of blood on her lower teeth. Over the years, it has routinely allowed executions to go forward even in cases where there were serious questions about a defendants guilt. On Monday, the CCA ordered Garcia to either recuse herself or have another judge rule on her disqualification within three days, Schardl explained. Texas mother Melissa Lucio, who was convicted in the death of her two-year-old daughter Mariah, is scheduled to be executed April 27. According to an interrogation with Lucio about the death of their then-youngest child, Mariah fell down a flight of stairs in February 2007 while the family was moving. So, I really try not to think about the future, because right now I have what I want. Lucio and her attorneys have not had success in reversing the initial verdict. Although the official documents say that Lucio was born in 1968, her relatives and closest members say that she was born in 1969. The Board then announced it would not vote at that time. hide caption. Greg Abbott could grant her clemency. But for us, whats clear is that theres a recognition by the court that something is wrong and needs to be fixed.. But two days before the 53-year-old mother of 14 children was due to be executed, she was given a second chance. Photo: Christian K. Lee/Chronicle. 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. Her young daughter Mariah died and had many injuries like bruises on her head kidneys lungs spinal cord and other places. Two days later, her father called police when Mariah suddenly stopped breathing. For 14 years, Lucio had been on . What's he waiting for? 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. One of her other daughters, Adriana, stands at left. Her lawyers argue that credible science demonstrates that Mariahs death was caused by an accident and that Lucio was sentenced to death for a crime that never happened. Meg & Harry 'stunned' by King's 'cruel' Frogmore eviction 'punishment', Harry and Meghan evicted from Frogmore Cottage by King Charles after Spare memoir, Emmerdale's Amy Nuttall caught cheating hubby after sexy lingerie slip-up, Shoppers are rushing to buy 23 beauty staple for just 99p at Home Bargains, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. According to Lucio, she was once sexually abused by her mothers boyfriend. 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