They wrote: "[A] history of trauma significantly reduces the resilience of the trauma victims to cope with interrogative pressure. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. In 2007, Ms. Lucio's youngest child, Mariah, accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. Lucio's supporters say many of the issues in her trial trace back to the head prosecutor in the case, Armando Villalobos. 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. Photograph: The Guardian. Two days later, her father called police when Mariah suddenly stopped breathing. Specifically, the question is whether false testimony, faulty forensic practices, and hidden evidence tainted her conviction. 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. 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 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. As per the data, Melissa Lucio is only 5 feet 2 inches tall. 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. If she is killed, she would be the first Hispanic woman to be executed in Texas in the modern era of the death penalty, and the first woman executed in Texas since 2014. Please give us the chance for closure. 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. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. 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. According to Lucio, she was once sexually abused by her mothers boyfriend. In this undated photograph, Melissa Lucio holds one of her sons, John. "At some point they didn't hear Mariah playing anymore, went to check on her, and she had managed to get out of the screen door and was at the bottom of the staircase," says Potkin, the Innocence Project attorney. Her family maintains her innocence and has pushed hard to get her off death row. VideoAt the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip, Ukraine war casts shadow over India's G20 ambitions, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death, July 10, 2008, in Brownsville, Texas. Potkin said Lucio was . They probably never will," her kids said in the letter. The daughter, who was a toddler at that time, had to go through a physical disability and was unstable while walking. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old . Lucio is set to be executed on April 27 for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. In 2019 the 5th U.S. Her lawyers said thatthestatement was wrongly interpretedby prosecutors as a murder confession, tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariahs death. Campaigners took up Melissa's cause as one of a miscarriage of justice. Upon learning that her execution had been stayed, Melissa said in a statement: "I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence. The wounds never fully healed. By Monday morning, there was a fair amount of speculation spreading among activists about what would happen; word was that the board had already made its decision and would make its announcement by early afternoon. He and Moody also convened a committee hearing to question Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, who had requested Lucios execution date. View our online Press Pack. Greg Abbott to spare their mom's life. New FDA-approved drug can slow vision loss, Lawsuits claim dental device wrecked teeth, Pandemic-era SNAP benefits end for millions of Americans as costs rise. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and a Texas jury sentenced her to death. DeSantis won't say he's running. Are you serious! 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. She had fallen asleep on her parents' bed, but never woke up again. Since turning 18, he described meeting with his mother on death row as he backed her claims that Mariahs death was an accident. 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. "Her next partner continued the cycle of violence, punching her in public and beating her at home. The legal team also addressed lingering questions about whether Saenz would even be eligible to retry Lucio. At the age of 16, she turned into a child bride but again had to face abusive marriage. At the age of 16 she became a child bride but once again had to face an abusive marriage. According to the reports, she has undergone a continuous and repetitive highly abnormal level of vulnerability. Lucio endured more than five hours of interrogation in which she denied killing Mariah, said Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at The Innocence Project. hide caption. We cannot allow the rule of law to be suspended and substituted by a court of public opinion.". In fact, the court had twice ruled against Lucios appeals. Among them is one of her sons, John Lucio. 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 . Leach and a handful of colleagues traveled to visit Lucio in prison. 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. But the state of Texas appealed the decision, and the case then went to the 17 judges that comprise the 5th Circuit. This is terrifying it should be terrifying for everybody.. But for us, whats clear is that theres a recognition by the court that something is wrong and needs to be fixed.. 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.". Consider what the world of media would look like without The Intercept. In an interview with the Texas Observer, Tivon Schardl, a lawyer on Lucio's appellate defense team, called her case "as clear a . After the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, the court charged her with capital murder. 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. Around 3am, she told detectives, I guess I did it, reportedly in hopes that they would end the interrogation, according to the Innocence Project. 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. Lucio's supporters say many of the issues in her trial trace back to the head prosecutor in the case, Armando Villalobos. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "I hit her like this," she demonstrated by spanking a doll, sealing her fate. 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. The daughter, who was still a small child at the time, had to be examined by a doctor for a disability and was unstable when walking. 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. More on The Lone Star Plate www.lonestarplate.showSabrina . Lucio learned of the stay from Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach, who along with a bipartisan majority of the state legislature has championed her case, calling for clemency or a new trial. "We ask you not to tear those wounds open again. Before all this, "we were a large family and we were very united", her eldest son, John, told BBC. 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. The trial court will also be asked to consider the claim that Lucio is innocent of murder. The appeals court remanded, or sent back, several claims Lucio raised in an application for a writ of habeas corpus which demands a public official show a valid reason for a persons detention and ordered the trial court to conduct a merits review.. Lucio was married at the age of 16 and gave birth to five children with her husband, who constantly abused Lucio throughout their relationship. 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. 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.". 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 . The documentary focuses on the case of Melissa Lucio, a woman convicted for the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter Mariah. Lucios other claims did not meet statutory requirements, the appeals court found, and will not be reviewed. Melissa deserves to remain and die in prison. After her conviction for Mariah's murder, Melissa's children were taken from her care. 2023 Cable News Network. Lucio, a . 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. Valley Morning Star via AP. His younger siblings were taken in by cousins, and many did well after leaving school. 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. Her attorneys are seeking either a lesser charge, to remove Lucio from death row or a . Although the official documents state that Lucio was born in 1968, her relatives and closest members say that she was born in 1969. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. While bouncing around online, Toon came across the documentary The State of Texas v. Melissa, which confirmed her instincts that Lucio was innocent. And so she has to confront that reality, too, that the execution could go forward.". 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 execution of Melissa Lucio is off. The film screened at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and later won Best Documentary at the Raindance Film Festival. Many were put up for adoption while others were split up and sent to live with relatives or placed in the custody of the . Learn how your comment data is processed. ", Speaking to CBS Mornings he said: 'If they go through with it, they'll be killing an innocent woman.. All Rights Reserved. Lucio is over 77 kgs or 170 lbs .The native of texas uses drugs very often and has been tested for cocaine earlier in her criminal offence. Melissa Lucio was born on 18th July 1968 in Lubbock, Texas. 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. Lucio's children previously wrote a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, pleadingGov. Looking at her pictures, we can identify that she is overweight. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. 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. They hope to persuade the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. 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