Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced a Texas woman to death for the deaths of one of her 14 children in 2007 called for her upcoming execution to be stopped and for a new trial.
Melissa Lucio, 52, will be executed on Wednesday for the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 in southern Texas.
Her lawyers say new evidence shows that Mariah’s injuries, including a blow to the head, were caused by falling down a steep staircase and many lawmakers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, a defense justice reform advocate, and Amanda Knox, an American whose sentence for murder in the death of a British student in Italy was canceled – united for the cause of Lucio. However, prosecutors say the girl was a victim of child abuse.
Lucio’s lawyers have filed various legal appeals to stop her execution. She also has a request for clemency before the Texas Pardon and Parole Board, which is due to consider her case on Monday. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could play a role in deciding Lucio’s fate.
What are the problems?
Lucio’s lawyers say her death sentence is based on unreliable and forced confessions, the result of relentless interrogations for hours during which she claimed innocence dozens of times. Lucio is said not to have been allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.
Her lawyers also claim that unscientific and false evidence leads jurors to believe that Mariah’s injuries may have been caused only by physical violence and not by medical complications from a severe fall.
“I knew that what I was accused of was not true. “My children have always been my world, and although my choices in life have not been good, I would never hurt any of my children in that way,” Lucio wrote in a letter to Texas lawmakers.
Rachel Zoca of Chicago held a sign during a vigil for Lucio at the National Temple of the Virgin Mary in San Juan del Valle on Friday in San Juan, Texas. Lucio is the first woman of Spanish descent in Texas to be sentenced to death. (Delcia Lopez / The Monitor / Associated Press)
Cameron County Attorney Luis Saenz, whose office prosecuted the case, said he disagreed with Lucio’s lawyers’ claims that new evidence would exonerate her. Prosecutors say Lucio had a history of drug abuse and sometimes lost custody of some of her 14 children.
During a sometimes controversial hearing at the Texas House Committee on Lucio’s case this month, Saenz initially rejected requests to use his power to stop the execution, before later saying he would intervene if the courts did not act.
“I do not agree with all the checks that this case receives. I welcome that, “Saenz said.
Armando Villalobos was the district attorney when Lucio was convicted in 2008, and Lucio’s lawyers say he insisted on a conviction to help his re-election. In 2014, Vilalobos was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for a bribery scheme linked to offering favorable prosecutorial decisions.
Her lawyers also say Lucio’s sentence is disproportionate to what her husband and Mariah’s father, Robert Alvarez, received. He received a four-year sentence for injuring a child through inaction, although he is also responsible for caring for Mariah, Lucio’s lawyers say.
Who gathers on her behalf?
More than half of Texas lawmakers have called for its execution to be halted. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers traveled to Gatesville this month, where the state is hosting women sentenced to death, and prayed with Lucio.
“Just knowing that Mrs. Lucio’s case is there is enough to make me lose a lot of sleep,” Republican spokesman Jeff Leach told a Dallas television station last week.
“We should not be afraid to ask questions at all and make sure that we are not potentially executing an innocent Texan.”
Republican Jeff Leach was introduced to the legislature in Austin, Texas, on April 12. He is among a group of lawmakers who have visited Lucio and called for clemency. (Jay Janner / Austin American Statesman / Associated Press)
Five of the 12 jurors who convicted Lucio and a deputy juror questioned her decision and asked for a new trial.
“She was not evil. She was just fighting … If we had heard passionately about the defense defending her in some way, we might have made a different decision, “juror Johnny Galvan wrote in an affidavit, expressing doubts about her sentence.
Lucio’s cause also has the support of religious leaders such as Sister Helen Prejan, an activist who has been lobbying for decades for the abolition of the death penalty, and the case was presented last week on HBO tonight with John Oliver.
Lucio’s family and supporters travel around Texas to hold rallies and screenings of a 2020 documentary about her case, Texas v. Melissa, which aired on Hulu in the United States and aired on SuperChannel in Canada.
I just arrived in Texas to support https://t.co/u3yGBjWJWR
– @amandaknox
What can slow down or stop execution
Appeals to stop Lucio’s execution are pending in state and federal courts.
The Texas Pardon and Parole Board is considering a request to commute her death sentence with life imprisonment or a 120-day reprieve during the execution.
The decision could end up with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who had previously commuted the death sentence to life in prison in another case. (Jay Janner / Austin American Statesman / Associated Press)
Any decision by the board to commute her sentence or grant a reprieve will require Abbot’s approval. The governor, who has granted pardon to only one person sentenced to death since taking office in 2015, may also unilaterally issue a 30-day execution. Abbott replaced the death sentence with a life sentence without the right to replace Thomas (Bart) Whitaker, who was convicted of the deadly shooting of his mother and brother. Whitaker’s father was also shot, but survived and led the effort to save his son’s life.
Violators are rarely executed
Women make up just 3.6 percent of the more than 16,000 confirmed executions in the United States dating back to the colonial period in the 1600s, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that opposes the death penalty.
Melissa Lucio’s family and lawyers claim she has been abused by several men in her life. This is common in women sentenced to death. https://t.co/NyenzdHA78
– @ MarshallProj
Since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 17 women have reportedly been executed across the country. Texas has killed more women – six – than any other state, though not since 2014. The next is Oklahoma with three, and Florida has executed two.
The federal government has executed one woman since 1976. Lisa Montgomery of Kansas received a lethal injection in January 2021 after the Trump administration resumed executions in the federal system after a 17-year hiatus. The Ministry of Justice again stopped the executions at the Biden administration.
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