By Maurice Chammah. His younger siblings were taken in by cousins, and many did well after leaving school. Melissa's execution date is set for April 27, 2022. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren". The children are featured in Van Tassel's documentary, as is original interview footage from the time of Lucio's arrest. 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. 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. The execution of Melissa Lucio is off. "She is an innocent woman," John Lucio, Melissa's eldest son, told Latino USA at a protest outside the Cameron County Courthouse in February. She is scheduled to be put to death on April 27. At the age of 16 she became a child bride but once again had to face an abusive marriage. 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. The film screened at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and later won Best Documentary at the Raindance Film Festival. Michelle described the moment they saw Lucio inside the visitation area. The state of Texas has scheduled the execution in the Melissa Lucio case for April 27. ? she exclaimed through tears. Some of that evidence, says Potkin, was not disclosed to the defense as they were preparing for trial. The state of Texas had planned to execute an anonymous woman, she said. But she, her family and attorneys say she is innocent and was wrongfully convicted of capital murder. Lucio's lawyers say the evidence shows it was a tragic accident. Melissa Lucio is an American woman who belongs to Hispanic descent and has been sentenced to death in Texas. The detective handed Melissa Lucio a plastic doll and asked her to spank it. Prosecutors at trial argued Lucio, now 53, was an abusive mother who caused the injuries that led to her daughter Mariahs death. 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. After her conviction for Mariahs murder, Melissas children were taken from her care. Are you serious!? Photo: Christian K. Lee/Chronicle. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. More than a quarter of people exonerated by the Innocence Project in recent decades had confessed to the crime they allegedly committed, as Science reported. We certainly want Melissa to get her hearing as quickly as possible, Schardl said. In 2019 the 5th U.S. "You start peeling back the layers and you see that it is a case about corrupt prosecutors, it's a case about unfairness," Ms Babcock said. 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. 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. It's a disorder, she says, that in other cases has been "confused for child abuse because it causes extensive bleeding and bruising throughout the body. Shortly after the court delivered the stay, state Rep. Jeff Leach called Lucio. She could see herself in Lucios story. April 28 2022, 3:00 a.m. Melissa Lucio's loved ones react to her stay of execution during a press conference in Gatesville, Texas, on April 25, 2022. Lucio, a . 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 . The Intercept is an independent nonprofit news outlet. By the time she gave birth to her twelfth child, Melissa had experienced homelessness, drug addiction, and severe mental illness," according to an amicus brief filed by former prosecutors, anti-violence organizations and others on Lucio's behalf. 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. Lucio sobbed Monday upon hearing the news she would not be put to death Wednesday, according to an audio recording obtained by CNN. So, I really try not to think about the future, because right now I have what I want. 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. Former Cameron County . After finding no other injuries, Melissa said she had continued on with her day. 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. Melissa Lucio [represents] everything society despises she's a woman, Hispanic, poor, she has 14 children. Many were put up for adoption while others were split up and sent to live with relatives or placed in the custody of the . The conservative Republican from North Texas became an unlikely ally of the condemned mother from the Rio Grande Valley. The fourth claim argues the state suppressed evidence favorable to her defense, violating her rights to due process. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old . Lucio, 53, is a Mexican American woman who has struggled against poverty and abuse since childhood. In this April 6, 2022 photo provided by Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach, Rep. Leach stands next to death row inmate Melissa Lucio during a visit by a group of seven lawmakers to the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. 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. "Her so-called confession was the result of highly coercive interrogation tactics," said Potkin, "some of which are so coercive that they're no longer used today.". Detectives rushed to judgment and, just two hours after Mariah died, took Ms. Lucio in for questioning. The wounds never fully healed. Mariahs lifeless body arrived at a hospital in Harlingen, Texas, covered in bruises, which authorities immediately assumed were evidence of abuse. "Or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on her for whatever reason?" It simply has not been the same in the past 15 years," he said. "It's very common to be mistaken for abuse if you don't look for the signs.". "Their electric service was cut, they moved some 26 times in a five-year period. At least one juror from the trial says the jury wasn't given the full picture and that if he had known more, he would have never voted for the death penalty. One of her other daughters, Adriana, stands at left. Who Are Melissa Lucio Kids? Later, Lucio had nine more children with her next husband, who also turned out to be abusive to her. Campaigners took up Melissa's cause as one of a miscarriage of justice. Lucio's children previously wrote a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, pleadingGov. She received abuse throughout her childhood and teenage years. Please give us the chance for closure. "If Melissa does not get a stay by a certain day, then I will do what I have to do and stop it," Saenz said, as the Austin American-Statesman reported. January 25, 2022, 9:34 AM, CST. Lucio, 53, is a Mexican American woman who has struggled against poverty and abuse since childhood. At the time of the abuse, she was merely 6 years old and could not do anything, but the conditions remained the same for at least two years. Melissa Lucio, the South Texas mother of 14 who was days from her execution date, has been granted a stay from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. My mom got a stay., After sobs and hugs in the lobby, the family raced to see Lucio. 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. "She is not guilty of the death of my baby sister.". Her lawyers say Lucio's history of sexual and physical abuse led to her giving an unreliable confession. 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. The biased investigation supported a prosecution led by a criminally corrupt prosecutor centered on an unreliable, contaminated confession and false scientific evidence that misled and inflamed the jury. And if he didnt have none 15 years ago, you dont have any today.. Separately, all eyes on Monday had been on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which had been expected to vote on a recommendation for clemency in Lucios case. 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. 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). Before her execution was stayed amid the emergence of new evidence, BBC spoke to her family and supporters. "Evidence that could have been exculpatory?" This is terrifying it should be terrifying for everybody.. Her lawyers said thatthestatement was wrongly interpretedby prosecutors as a murder confession, tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariahs death. 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. It was sending her case back to district court to consider several pressing claims, including that Lucio was innocent in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah. Melissa Lucio has given birth to 14 children. On April 15, Ms Lucios lawyer filed a habeas petition, appealing to her client to seek a stay of her execution, arguing that she deserves a new trial because she is innocent and wrongly arrested or misunderstood become. More on The Lone Star Plate www.lonestarplate.showSabrina . Leach and a handful of colleagues traveled to visit Lucio in prison. But lawyers and others of Melissa's supporters say she was made to make statements under duress. After reviewing her claims and the evidence, the court would then make a recommendation to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which would ultimately decide whether Lucio gets a new trial. Lucio has always maintained her innocence. They hope to persuade the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. 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. 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