Melissa Lucio faces execution this week in Texas. What to know about her case

[cigaretteman]

Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced a Texas woman to die for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children have called for her upcoming execution to be halted and for her to get a new trial.

Melissa Lucio, 52, is set to be executed Wednesday for the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in Texas' southern tip.
Her lawyers say new evidence shows that Mariah's injuries, including a blow to the head, were caused by a fall down a steep staircase, and many lawmakers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, an advocate for criminal justice reform, and Amanda Knox — an American whose murder conviction in the death of a British student in Italy was overturned — have rallied to Lucio's cause. Prosecutors, though, maintain that the girl was the victim of child abuse.

Lucio's lawyers have filed various legal appeals seeking to stop her execution. She also has a clemency application before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is set to consider her case Monday. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could play a role in deciding Lucio's fate. If put to death, Lucio would be the first Latina ever executed by Texas and the first woman the state has put to death since 2014.

Update: Texas appeals court delays execution of Melissa Lucio

A Texas appeals court on Monday delayed the execution of a woman amid growing doubts about whether she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter.

nonpareilonline.com

 

[cigaretteman]

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has issued a stay of execution for Melissa Lucio, whose conviction in her 2-year-old daughter’s death more than decade ago has drawn renewed scrutiny because of new evidence and testimony in her case.
The court intervened two days before Lucio’s execution date and has ordered a trial court to review new evidence in the case. The Monday decision preempted an expected vote by the Texas Pardons and Paroles Board, which said it would not make a clemency recommendation in light of the appellate court’s ruling.
In a statement, Lucio credited her faith and thanked supporters for standing by her.
“I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence,” she said. “Mariah is in my heart today and always. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren.”
The decision follows campaigning from celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and John Oliver, most of Lucio’s children, religious leaders and a bipartisan group of more than 100 members of the Texas legislature urging the state to scrap the death sentence stemming from her 2008 capital murder conviction. Five of the jurors who sentenced Lucio to death have called for clemency, saying information that has emerged since the trial suggests that her life should be spared. Lucio’s attorneys argue that police failed to conduct a thorough investigation into Mariah’s death.
If her execution were to proceed, it would be the first execution of a Latina in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s. Lucio is the only Latina to have been sentenced to death in Texas.
“Because there was a rush to judgment, because they presumed Melissa Lucio guilty, every piece of evidence they viewed through the lens of her guilt and failed to consider other causes of the evidence,” said Vanessa Potkin, one of Lucio’s attorneys and a lawyer with the Innocence Project, which seeks to exonerate the wrongfully convicted.

Prosecutors in Cameron County, Tex., alleged at trial that Lucio caused Mariah’s head and internal injuries by physically abusing her. Lucio, however, said her child’s injuries were caused by an accidental fall down a 14-step staircase. The girl initially showed no signs of being seriously hurt but stopped breathing two days later, on Feb. 17, 2007, Lucio’s clemency application says.
Attorneys for Lucio contend she was sentenced to die because she did not fit the stereotype of a grieving mother — appearing more detached and unemotional than investigators expected. Potkin described that as an exterior she developed to survive violence throughout her life.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/04/25/melissa-lucio-texas-death-penalty/

 

[mnole03]

Never felt the evidence supported moving this from life in prison to the death penalty.

 

[soybean]

Never felt the evidence supported moving this from life in prison to the death penalty.

She should not be in prison period.

 

[lucas80]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/us/melissa-lucio-stay-of-execution/index.html

She should not be in prison period.

S*** job from the start. The investigators and first responders wanted her to be guilty. Once the course was set nobody seemed to be too worried about her being innocent or not.

 

[NDallasRuss]

14 children?

Was she not able to figure out what kept causing that.

 

[hawkeye54545]

I'm pro death penalty but on cases there can be 100% no doubt of guilt. This doesn't meet that criteria for me.

 

[24 so far]

If only they had time to appeal and appeal and appeal some more, we would have gotten the real story instead of this rush to judgement.......oh wait...........

 

[mnole03]

If only they had time to appeal and appeal and appeal some more, we would have gotten the real story instead of this rush to judgement.......oh wait...........

See, Herrera v. Collins

 

[FAUlty Gator]

She got Brendan Dasseyed

 

[24 so far]

See, Herrera v. Collins

I don't need to see anything. I wasn't there when the kid got killed, I wasn't on the jury, or a judge or a prosecutor. And you know who else wasn't? Yeah, it's you F Lee. And neither was anyone else commenting here who thinks they have some inifite wisdom as to what actually happened.

But Libby's being Libby's got it all figured out, cause Kim Kardashian. LOL! This broad is as innocent as Uncle O.J., and we're going to find the real killers in both cases any day now! LOL!

 

[24 so far]

See, Herrera v. Collins

See The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson.

Need any more assistance? Yeah, didn't think so.

 

[Tfxchawk]

Women kill their kids more than fathers. Dirty secret but it's true. Would anyone be rallying to the cause if it was the father facing the death penalty? Not a chance.

I don't like the death penalty at all. Too much to gain for grandstanding prosecutors and police detectives. Too.many ways to get it wrong on flimsy or manipulated evidence where the truth is less important than winning in a competition.

I have now idea whether this woman deliberately killed her child. Was she a known quantity to child protective services? Im guessing yes but who knows. Not sure what being latina has to do with anything but race seems to get interjected when convenient to a victim narrative. If it was a Latino that shot someone he would be listed as white wouldn't he?

Without even looking at the details no she should not be executed. She also should not be given any benefit of the doubt because of her gender or her race. How are the other 13 kids doing by the way? Foster homes where half of the kids in foster care age out and become homeless on the streets at 18? What is being done for them?

 

[artradley]

I don't need to see anything. I wasn't there when the kid got killed, I wasn't on the jury, or a judge or a prosecutor. And you know who else wasn't? Yeah, it's you F Lee. And neither was anyone else commenting here who thinks they have some inifite wisdom as to what actually happened.

But Libby's being Libby's got it all figured out, cause Kim Kardashian. LOL! This broad is as innocent as Uncle O.J., and we're going to find the real killers in both cases any day now! LOL!

You are a disturbed individual.

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

I don't need to see anything. I wasn't there when the kid got killed, I wasn't on the jury, or a judge or a prosecutor. And you know who else wasn't? Yeah, it's you F Lee. And neither was anyone else commenting here who thinks they have some inifite wisdom as to what actually happened.

But Libby's being Libby's got it all figured out, cause Kim Kardashian. LOL! This broad is as innocent as Uncle O.J., and we're going to find the real killers in both cases any day now! LOL!

From what I've read about this case the evidence against her does not seem very strong.

 

[tumorboy]

She had 14 kids. Eric Clapton had 5. Percentages say she's more responsible than Clapton.

 

[OutbackBowl2017]

Makes you wonder if the DA and cops are dirty or just really bad at their jobs. Either way, you don’t request the death penalty for a case like this.

 

[gonegolfing]

She's trash. Paramedics and doctors considered the situation one of the worst cases of child abuse they had seen.