Looking at her pictures, we can identify that she is overweight. How many covert wars, miscarriages of justice, and dystopian technologies would remain hidden if our reporters werent on the beat? Lucio is set to be executed on April 27 for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. The daughter, who was a toddler at that time, had to go through a physical disability and was unstable while walking. 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. 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 . Melissa Lucio is seen here in an undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Calls for mercy grow days before Melissa Lucio is set to be executed, I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence, Lucio said in a statement. She received abuse throughout her childhood and teenage years. The film screened at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and later won Best Documentary at the Raindance Film Festival. "They refused to listen to her, sending the clear message that this interrogation wasn't going to stop until she told the officers what they wanted to hear.". Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. Melissa Lucio, 53, is scheduled to be executed on April 27. Moments after learning about her daughter's death, Melissa was questioned by the police for over five hours, without food, beverage or sleep. He said she fell down a flight of stairs, and died two days later. Legal team for Melissa Lucio. However, she has maintained her innocence ever since. The Texas courts have spared Melissa Lucio's life. John has organised sitdowns seeking the release of his mother and said he will continue fighting. 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. According to the innocence project, Melissa, the mother of 14 children, was a loving and caring mother despite facing physical assault and abuse from her partner and ex-husband. Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death, July 10, 2008, in Brownsville, Texas. Mariahs lifeless body arrived at a hospital in Harlingen, Texas, covered in bruises, which authorities immediately assumed were evidence of abuse. Research says Mariah was physically abused, and people like Ms. Lucio often agree to conditions they never condemned while under tremendous pressure from the majority of people. Prosecutors said she confessed after this police interrogation, and on the testimony of one of the agents who said he was "convinced" she was guilty, and on the injuries that Mariah's body had shown at the time of her 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. If the execution is not postponed or stopped, she will receive a lethal injection on April 27, despite the mounting doubts over her guilt. In 2008, Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death in Texas for the murder of her 2-year old daughter Mariah, who died two days after a tragic fall down a flight of stairs. At least for now. If the execution goes ahead, she would be the first Latina to be executed in the state of Texas. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. She is the mother of 14 children, including Mariah. Now 32, John struggled with his own brushes with the law, but has tried to put his life back together again: he returned to school, he began running marathons and triathlons. The children are featured in Van Tassel's documentary, as is original interview footage from the time of Lucio's arrest. "I'll make a decision once it comes to me," Abbott told KRGV, an ABC News affiliate in the Rio Grande Valley. "We ask you not to tear those wounds open again. She should never have the opportunity to abuse another child again. We felt like David and Goliath, she said, as she and Luna did what they could to push Lucios case into the spotlight. But at least four of those jurors now agree Lucio should get a new trial, given the new evidence and testimony they didn't see. 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. On Monday, the CCA ordered Garcia to either recuse herself or have another judge rule on her disqualification within three days, Schardl explained. Thats what brought Luna and Toon to the Capitol on April 25. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Lucio had been deprived of "her constitutional right to present a meaningful defense," and overturned her conviction. Lucio was convicted in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and sentenced to be executed. We certainly want Melissa to get her hearing as quickly as possible, Schardl said. Now she can prove her innocence. Have you heard the news? "I am not here to shout," he said. According to a lawyer on Lucio's appellate defense team, Melissa is innocent. A majority of the judges said the conviction had to be upheld because they were barred by a procedural rule that limits a federal court's ability to review state court findings. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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 state. / CBS News. Lucio later had nine more children with her next husband, who was also found to be abusive towards her. Two days later, her father called police when Mariah suddenly stopped breathing. Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death in Texas after she confessed to beating her 2-year-old daughter, who later died. 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. Melissa Lucio's high-profile fight to overturn her conviction for murdering her daughter has gained the support of politicians, celebrities and even members of the jury that originally sentenced . According to Lucio, she was once sexually abused by her mothers boyfriend. Im hoping its not the same evidence Mr. Villalobos had. 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.". There were also allegations of corruption on the part of the prosecution, which did not figure into the case. Experts on false confessions who reviewed the interrogation tapes say Lucio was especially vulnerable, as a victim of child sexual abuse and later domestic violence, developing defense mechanisms. Lucio, 53, is a Mexican American woman who has struggled against poverty and abuse since childhood. Without any legal representation, Melissa was fiercely interrogated by Cameron County TX police for 7 hours. At the time, the family was moving homes, and she reportedly fell due to her physical disability, which left her feet turned to the side, making her unable to walk and prone to tripping. 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. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. It was during one of those moves - on 15 February 2007 - that Melissa's two-year-old daughter was injured. All Rights Reserved. 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. I even told her myself that I consider her my best friend. 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. State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and other members of the Texas House Criminal Justice Reform Caucus ask state officials to halt the execution of . There is a motion pending in the trial court to disqualify him from further participation in this case, Schardl said. Lucio and her team had raised nine claims with the appeals court, four of which were remanded to the trial court. Villalobos could not be reached for comment. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has granted a request to stay the execution of Melissa Lucio. 2023 Cable News Network. The trial court will also be asked to consider the claim that Lucio is innocent of murder. We cant say exactly how long, but we certainly dont want her to spend one day longer in prison than is absolutely necessary.. As fast as my heart was pacing, thats how fast I was driving, John later told reporters at a press conference. "It looks from the outside like somebody has gotten, say, punched," said Schardl. Were confident that with the new evidence of innocence, if Melissa was retried today that she would be acquitted, Innocence Project attorney Vanessa Potkin told reporters on Monday afternoon. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. The state of Texas had planned to execute an anonymous woman, she said. After the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, the court charged her with capital murder. 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. She was convicted 14 years ago of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and a Texas jury sentenced her to death. Melissa Lucio is the mother of 14 children, five from her first marriage and nine from her second, according to theInnocence Project. More on The Lone Star Plate www.lonestarplate.showSabrina . AMY GOODMAN: Melissa Lucio is a mother of 14 children. . Melissa Lucio was born on July 18, 1968 in Lubbock, Texas. 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. Former Cameron County . He told "CBS Mornings" correspondent Lilia Luciano that he decided to get the tattoo, "because, you know, it's close to my heart. Her first husband, the group says, was a violent alcoholic who left her after she gave birth to their five children. The impact has been felt longest by Melissa's family. The state of Texas has issued a death warrant seeking to execute Melissa Lucio (pictured), a battered woman who was sentenced to death for what may have been an accidental fall that killed her two-year-old daughter.She is scheduled to be executed April 27, 2022. . 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. Melissa Lucio, who maintained her innocence for nearly 14 years, was immediately taken under interrogation and was asserted nearly 100 times until she was manipulated by the police officers to take the responsibility for Mariahs injury. 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. Please give us the chance for closure. According to the reports, she has gone through a continuous and repetitive highly abnormal level of vulnerability. At the time of his mother's arrest, John was 17 years old. Courtesy of the Lucio family. 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. Her young daughter Mariah died and had many injuries like bruises on her head kidneys lungs spinal cord and other places. And if he didnt have none 15 years ago, you dont have any today.. Later, Lucio had nine more children with her next husband, who also turned out to be abusive to her. 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. "No.". Or sleeping well. According to prosecutors, the injuries inflicted on Mariah were the result of physical abuse, while Lucios lawyer says the daughter was injured because she fell down the stairs two days before her death. Greg Abbott could grant her clemency. Melissa Lucio was born on 18th July 1968 in Lubbock, Texas. In 2020, a documentary was made regarding the case story of Melissa Lucio by Sabrina Van Tassel with the title The State of Texas vs. Melissa. Before her execution was stayed amid the emergence of new evidence, BBC spoke to her family and supporters. 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. As the process unfolds, she will remain on death row, her legal team said. Lucio's attorneys say Villalobos wanted to make an example of Lucio to prove he was tough on crime. 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. She saw Mariah at the bottom with a bleeding lip, but she otherwise didn't appear to be seriously injured. Greg Abbott to spare their mom's life. Lucio's children previously wrote a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, pleadingGov. The lawyers also argue that Farley deployed junk science, including testimony about an alleged bite mark on Mariahs back, to bolster her insistence that Mariah had been abused. Lucio was pregnant with twin boys at the time of Mariah's death and when she was interrogated. 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. She is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday. Instead, police subjected Lucio to a punishing late-night interrogation lasting more than five hours. Joining is simple and doesnt need to cost a lot: You can become a sustaining member for as little as $3 or $5 a month. Lucios life wasnt as easy and smooth as other childrens. 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. Melissa Lucios private life remained a mystery for many years until her daughter died and she was sentenced to prison. Lucio's 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. Opinion is divided on her guilt, though - many of her living children have backed up her claim of innocence, and five of the jurors who convicted her have since expressed misgivings over the verdict. It was like, "Ugh, let her rot in Hell." Lucios other claims did not meet statutory requirements, the appeals court found, and will not be reviewed. At this time, it remains unclear if Lucio's execution will be overturned. Yes, the ruling by the appeals court does nothing to modify Lucios sentence. . One of her other daughters, Adriana, stands at left. 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). For other inquiries, Contact Us. "You know, it's my mom. Detectives rushed to judgment and, just two hours after Mariah died, took Ms. Lucio in for questioning. Discovery Company. Campaigners took up Melissa's cause as one of a miscarriage of justice. 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. We dont have ads, so we depend on our members 35,000 and counting to help us hold the powerful to account. Legal team for Melissa Lucio 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 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) Following her conviction, she was sentenced to a death sentence by lethal injection in the year July of the . She could see herself in Lucios story. In 2008, she was found guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter. It was Lucios son John, calling to say that the court had intervened. "Being the eldest was hard, not only because of the responsibility but because I would like to see our family together again.". Among the suppressed evidence, her attorneys say, are indications police and prosecutors knew other family members were aware of Mariahs fall down the stairs and that no one had described the abuse Mariah allegedly suffered. ", "Everything," he replied. And she did, saying she spanked the child, but never admitting to the use of deadly force. It came as it was revealed that Lucio and her children struggled through poverty. 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 Lucio had no history of child abuse. So, I really try not to think about the future, because right now I have what I want. Are you serious! In 2007, Lucio's daughter Mariah passed away after sustaining injuries during a fall down a flight of stairs. Melissa Lucio has fourteen kids as of 2021. Update: Melissa Lucio's execution date has been set for April 27, 2022. 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. 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. In recordings of an interrogation, Lucio who was pregnant with twins at the time is heard denying guilt. Toon had been the inmate librarian at the Mountain View prison unit where Texass female death row prisoners are housed, and shed gotten to know Lucio over the years. Lucio's supporters say many of the issues in her trial trace back to the head prosecutor in the case, Armando Villalobos. In fact, the court had twice ruled against Lucios appeals. She admitted that she had spanked Mariah on the butt, but denied abusing her. 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. 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. After repeatedly denying that she killed her daughter, Lucio finally conceded that she was responsible. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reviewed Lucio's case and overturned it, finding that she had been denied the opportunity to present a full defense at her trial and that a new trial was warranted. John Oliver, the comedian, featured the case in a segment on wrongful convictions on his HBO news programme last month, and Kim Kardashian earlier this month tweeted a letter to the Texas governor signed by nine of Melissa's children pleading for her life to be spared. 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. Upon examination, Mariah was found to be in a fetal condition, with various stages of bruising and injuries to her head and contusions to her kidneys, lungs, and spinal cord. The state of Texas has scheduled the execution of the case of Melissa Lucio for the 27th of April. 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. "At the same time, here we are, seven days away from her execution date. He was accompanied by family members as well as Sabrina Van Tassel, the director of The State of Texas v. Melissa, who had traveled from Paris to witness Lucios execution. Fourteen years after she was sent to Texas' death row, Melissa's Lucio will finally get the chance to have new evidence of her innocence claims . Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The conservative Republican from North Texas became an unlikely ally of the condemned mother from the Rio Grande Valley. Who is Melissa Lucio? There is significant evidence of her innocence that no court, no fact finder has ever considered. Many were put up for adoption while others were split up and sent to live with relatives or placed in the custody of the . . Mariah's body was riddled with bruises and the medical examiner automatically declared Mariah's death by homicide via child abuse. Prosecutors at her . She says she was wrongfully convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter Mariah after a tragic accident in 2007. ", 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. In an undated photo, Melissa Lucio is pictured with one of her young children. Lucio, a mother of 14, has been on Texas death row since 2008, when she was convicted in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter the prior year. Melissa Lucio is a convicted criminal who had killed her own 2-year-old daughter as per a report by Murderpedia. 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. Still trying to come to terms with the reality of her child She was sexually abused at the age of 6 by one of her family members (her mothers boyfriend). "She is not guilty of the death of my baby sister.". But today, multiple expert pathologists agree Mariah could have suffered a head injury from a fall, leading to a disorder that causes extreme bruising. 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. "Are you a cold-blooded killer?" She said she was constantly sexually abused by her first husband, who later left and separated with her five children. 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.". On the other hand, Lucio said that she was pressured to have false statements regarding the allegations. This couldve been me, she said. For 14 years, Lucio had been on . Lucio was convicted for the death of her daughter Mariah Alvarez. Her lawyers say Lucio's history of sexual and physical abuse led to her giving an unreliable confession. 2:03 PM EDT, Tue April 26, 2022, Texas court grants stay of execution for death row inmate. "I hit her like this," she demonstrated by spanking a doll, sealing her fate. 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.". "Her next partner continued the cycle of violence, punching her in public and beating her at home. "We ask you not to tear those wounds open again. State Rep. Jeff Leach said, "As a conservative Republican myself who has long been a supporter of the death penalty in the most heinous cases, I have never seen I have never seen a more troubling case than the case of Melissa Lucio.". Her family and friends are protesting her punishment and claim she . 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. Melissa deserves to remain and die in prison. To say Im wrestling with the very existence of the death penalty in Texas would be a dramatic understatement, Leach said. "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. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. But it seems the relentless pressure from activists and lawmakers, combined with the mounting evidence of Lucios innocence, was too much to simply ignore. 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. 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. 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. Alexandra is also another of Melissa Lucio's elder daughters. Lucios story resonated with Luna; a mom of three, Luna had struggled with drug addiction, lost her children to the states child welfare system, and gone to prison. Naturally, she has brown hair and almost no eyebrow. Last October, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019 the 5th U.S. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren". Neither woman had been eating very much. 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. We cannot allow the rule of law to be suspended and substituted by a court of public opinion.". 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. Everybodyknows who she is., Liliana Segura[emailprotected]theintercept.com@lilianasegura, Jordan Smith[emailprotected]theintercept.com@chronic_jordan. As per the data, Melissa Lucio is only 5 feet 2 inches tall. Her cause was taken up by everyone from her living children - her eldest son the most vocal among them - to Kim Kardashian, the celebrity turned would-be lawyer. "It was an accident," he said. But the state of Texas appealed the decision, and the case then went to the 17 judges that comprise the 5th Circuit. The wounds never fully healed. hide caption. AP Those documents, her lawyers argue, support Lucios claim that Mariahs health had deteriorated after falling down the stairs. It was fitting that Leach would deliver the news. Although interviews with Lucio's children, her mother, and her sisters give the clear sense that Melissa's family wants her home, it never really feels like the family members get comfortable . In front of a large white Free Melissa Lucio banner, Van Tassel looked up toward the courthouse where she had spent so much time working on the film that would bringLucios story to the rest of the world. They wrote: "[A] history of trauma significantly reduces the resilience of the trauma victims to cope with interrogative pressure. Even after none of her children of Lucio accepted the physical abuse by their mother, the police and the pathologists continued to claim that Mariahs death was not because of the fall from stairs. Melissa Lucio is seen here in an undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Director of The State of Texas vs. Melissa, Sabrina Van Tassel argues for Melissa Lucio's retrial. 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Appear to be executed in the state of Texas appealed the decision, and a grandmother to my ''..., stands at left one of a miscarriage of justice and claim she declined to hear case! The child, but she otherwise did n't appear to be executed allegations of corruption on the Sun, use. A punishing late-night interrogation lasting more than five hours I hit her like this, '' demonstrated... Finder has ever considered '' he said Lucio and her team had raised nine claims the... Of 14 children, including Mariah news, live events, and died two days later her punishment claim! Gave birth to their five children 7 hours, in Brownsville, Texas court grants of... By her mothers boyfriend to death, July 10, 2008, she would be the first Latina be! Had killed her own 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, the court had twice ruled Lucios! Paroles, pleadingGov grateful to have false statements regarding the allegations get her hearing quickly! Abnormal level of vulnerability, Leach said other daughters, Adriana, stands at left that Lucio is 5. With her five children she is., Liliana Segura [ emailprotected ] @.