Paramedics were called to Melissa Lucio's home in Harlingen, Texas, on Feb. 17, 2007, after her 2-year-old daughter Mariah Alvarez was found unresponsive and not breathing. He spoke in emotional support of his mother at a press conference on Friday held by civic engagement nonprofit Somos Tejas, Texas state Rep. Victoria Neave Criado and other Texas state legislators saying that his family "hasn't been the same" since her incarceration. The jury was deprived of key evidence to weigh: that is the point.. However, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who reviewed the evidence concluded that the medical examiners testimony was misleading and there is nothing about Mariahs fracture that indicates that, was the result of an intentional act or abuse. Police contaminate the persons statement meaning they feed the innocent person crime facts or a specific narrative of guilt. It's like Cameron County prosecutor Alfredo Padilla said "the decision was based on evidence and evidence alone". Abbott's office, the Cameron County District Attorney's Office and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment. She says in another video that she never witnessed physical abuse, only her mother pinching Mariah or excluding her but says she later became aware that other physical abuse was happening. No physical evidence showed otherwise. Abraham Bonowitz, co-founder and director of anti-death penalty advocacy group Death Penalty Action, said he believes that filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel's Hulu documentary, "The State of Texas vs. Melissa," which follows Lucio as she appeals her case, speaks to her innocence. The autopsy also revealed that Mariah had suffered a head injury and bruises on her kidneys, lungs, and spinal cord. He can grant clemency if a majority of the paroles board recommends it. Three older children went to live in Houston with their father, and Lucio regained custody of the others in late 2006.[5]. The board plans to vote on Lucio's clemency petition two days before the scheduled execution, Rachel Alderete, the board's director of support operations, said in an email. But worn down from a lifetime of abuse and the grief of losing her daughter Mariah, her lawyers say, the Texas woman finally acquiesced to investigators. HOUSTON During hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter. Only a barbaric people allow such depravity. Her father died when she was an infant, and the family moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where her mother had grown up, when she was a toddler. "If those threats in the interrogation are a trigger and she checks out, it can again be easy for her to just say whatever because she's trying to cope with what feels like a present threat.". During the interrogation, officers berated and intimidated Ms. Lucio, who was pregnant and in shock from the loss of her child, for five hours. Guadalupe Lucio and Melissa Lucio had their first five children together when they were just 16 years old. The brief states that Lucio's subdued behavior and acquiescence during interrogation were the result of prior trauma as a survivor of abuse. Her execution is set to take place on April 27. [16] In 2019, a three-judge panel of the Federal Appeals Court overturned the sentence and ordered a retrial because of the trial court's interference in Lucio's right to present a defense. 2023byTango Publishing Corporation All Rights Reserved. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Texas Innocent Project. Was her child's death really a murder? BROWNSVILLE - Melissa Elizabeth Lucio was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection in the 13th Judicial District Court, according to a Cameron county District Attorney's Office release. And experts who have reviewed Ms. Lucios case, including her interrogation records, have concluded that Ms. Lucio was relentlessly pressured and extensively manipulated during the interrogation. "We've had her interrogation reviewed by leading experts in interrogation and false confessions. the youngest of her 12 children at the time Ms. Lucio was taken into police custody and immediately blamed for her daughters death. However, Ms. Lucios husband perpetuated the cycle of abuse. While Lucios attorneys contend that Mariahs death was brought on by a fall down the stairs two days earlier, prosecutors contend that Mariahs injuries were caused by physical abuse. Alice Kelly is a senior news and entertainment editor for YourTango. Lucio was addicted to cocaine and tested positive shortly after Mariah was born; this prompted authorities to place her children in foster care. And that's as much as people want to know," he said. "She was not evil. since Ms. Lucios trial because it has no scientific basis. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. A spokeswoman for Abbott's office did not return an email seeking comment. He says he didnt know about Mariah Alvarezs serious injuries before she passed away. 2023 Innocence Project. We speak to one of Lucio's attorneys . "You're not making this firm division between a victim and suspect because a lot of times you don't know at the beginning who's a victim and who's a suspect.". "We promised #MelissaLucio and her family we'd do everything we can do to prevent this irreversible injustice from taking place later this month,"Leach wrote Thursday on Twitter. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding her daughter Mariah. Updated on April 18, 2022, 7:30 p.m. The husband of Melissa Lucio, Roberto Antonio Alvarez, is known to have testified in the case involving the death of his daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. "This is a woman who has a history of being threatened, being yelled at," she said. Guadalupe Lucio and Melissa Lucio had their first five children together when they were just 16 years old with their youngest daughter Lucio being the most recent addition. Though Selina believes her mother is guilty, she does not want her to be killed and says she signed the petition to request clemency for Lucio. Still a minor and unable to leave the abusive marriage, Ms. Lucio was trapped and developed a substance use problem. . If you have experienced sexual abuse and want to speak to someone, call the free and confidential National Sexual Assault hotline (1-800-656-HOPE or 1-800-656-4673). It was later determined that Mariah's arm had been broken two to seven weeks before her death, and an autopsy also showed a head injury and bruising of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord. Instead, those fighting for Lucio to be granted clemency claim she is a survivor of child physical and sexual abuse who was coerced into confessing to Mariahs murder. Ms. Lucio had nine more children, including Mariah. Ms. Lucio got the death penalty but shes asking for a chance to appeal. Lucio was married at the age of 16 and had her first five children with Guadalupe Lucio. Her inadvertent statement was then characterized by the prosecution as a confession to murder. The application also states that the state medical examiner who performed Mariah's autopsy was told that Lucio admitted to abusing the girl and was accompanied by two of the interrogating officers during the autopsy. "When I walked in, she was not making eye contact with the investigator. In their clemency petition, Lucio's lawyers say that while she had used drugs, leading her to temporarily lose custody of her children, she was a loving mother who worked to remain drug-free and provide for her family. After several hours of interrogation, Ms. Lucio said, I guess I did it, and made other incriminating statements, to get the officers to end the interrogation. Please avoid sharing any personal information in the comments below and join us in making this a hate-speech free and safe space for everyone. Melissa Lucio was found guilty of a very serious crime called capital murder. As noted in the appeals court opinion document, one of the investigators described Lucio's behavior. "The Innocence Project recognized the urgency that an innocent woman was headed for execution," Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation for the organization, told ABC News. This undated handout photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Melissa Lucio. Two more children (twins) were born while she was imprisoned. Melissa Lucio, only Latina on Texas death row, seeks clemency as execution looms. RELATED: 5 Death Penalty Facts That Will Make You Want To Abolish It Now. According to The Marshall Project, Crain, who maintains her innocence, wrote that she had flashbacks to her abusive husband when she was being yelled at by a detective. [25], A 2020 documentary by Sabrina Van Tassel titled The State of Texas vs. Melissa follows Lucio's case. Convicted of murdering one of her 9 children, her 2 year old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. As two experts on false confessions have determined, due to the officers tactics and Ms. Lucios vulnerability, her incriminating statements are not a reliable confession of her guilt, but rather are a regurgitation of information relayed to her from investigators throughout the interrogation.. She is scheduled to be executed by. A psychologist who reviewed recent testing of Melissa said that Melissa has highly abnormal levels of vulnerability to police coercion because of her background. "What am I going to say? Because of this, they decided to take her children and put them in foster care. "If you think about what's happening in an interrogation, that's a very parallel process.". New evidence suggests the death may have been an accident - and today, the Texas Board of Pardons . Lucio said that Mariah had fallen down a steep staircase during the family's move to a new apartment two days prior, but did not appear seriously injured, according to court records. There is now evidence that all three of these things happened in Ms. Lucios case. 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. [3] Lucio says she was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend for about two years, beginning when she was seven years old. Many family members and supporters say the girl's . In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. "[10], During the trial, Lucio's recorded statements from her interrogation were described as a confession by Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, who was seeking re-election at the time. Lucio Successor Writ Application, at 136 (quoting David Thompsons Expert Report). They were returned to Lucio three months before Mariahs death. By way of history, Mr. Alvarez found his daughter pale and not breathing in the family home and attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation until EMS arrived. "Lucio still advances no evidence that is reliable and supportive of her acquittal," the office wrote in court documents last month. . 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