Houston (AP) – The Texas Court of Appeals on Monday postponed the execution of Melissa Lucio amid growing suspicions that she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter in a case that garnered support from lawmakers, celebrities and even some jurors who convicted her to death.
The Texas Court of Appeals granted a request by Lucio’s lawyers to suspend the execution so that a lower court could review her allegations that new evidence would acquit her.
Lucio was set on a deadly injection Wednesday for the death of her daughter Mariah in 2007 in Harlingen, a city of about 75,000 people in southern Texas.
Prosecutors say the girl was a victim of violence and noted that her body was covered in bruises. Lucio’s lawyers say Mariah died of her injuries when she fell down a steep staircase a few days before she died.
“I am grateful that the court gave me the chance to live and prove my innocence,” Lucio said in a statement from her lawyers. “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. I will use my time to help bring them to Christ. I am deeply grateful to all who prayed for me and spoke on my behalf. ”
Lucio’s mother, Esperanza Trevinho, tearfully thanked all of her daughter’s supporters, saying, “Thank God for the miracle.”
Lucio was first told her execution had been postponed in a telephone conversation with Republican Jeff Leach, a Republican who helped lead a two-party effort to halt her execution, said Vanessa Potkin, one of Lucio’s lawyers involved. in the project “Innocence”.
“She sobbed. She was just overwhelmed, “Potkin said.
In a statement, Leach said he was grateful that the appeals court “pressed the pause button during her execution, saving the state of Texas from the irreversible blunder of potentially killing an innocent citizen.”
The suspension of the execution was announced minutes before the Texas Pardon and Parole Board considered Lucio’s pardon application to commute her death sentence or grant her a 120-day reprieve. The Parole Board did not consider her request for clemency due to the postponement of the execution. If the case is returned to the board in the future, Lucio’s lawyers will have to file a new petition.
Lucio’s lawyers say her death sentence is based on unreliable and forced confessions, the result of relentless interrogations and her long history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. 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 has led jurors to believe that Mariah’s injuries may have been caused only by abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.
“It will shock the public conscience that Melissa was killed on the basis of false and incomplete medical evidence of a crime that did not even happen,” Potkin said. “All new evidence of her innocence has never been considered by any court. The stay in court allows us to continue to fight with Melissa to overturn her wrongful sentence. ”
Cameron County Attorney Luis Saenz, whose office is prosecuting the case, said in a statement that he expects the execution to be delayed as various legal issues remain unresolved.
“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 guided by the rules of evidence and criminal procedure … This is our criminal justice system and it works.” said Saenz, who was out of office when Lucio was tried in 2008.
During a sometimes controversial hearing at the Texas House committee on Lucio’s case this month, Saenz 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.
In its three-page order, the appellate court asked the Brownsville Court of First Instance, which is considering Lucio’s case, to review four allegations made by her lawyers: whether prosecutors used false evidence to convict her; whether the lack of scientific evidence so far would have prevented her from being convicted; whether she is in fact innocent; and whether prosecutors have concealed evidence that would be conducive to her defense.
It was not immediately known when the lower court would begin hearing her case. Tivon Chardl, one of Lucio’s lawyers, said he hoped to persuade the judge to recommend a new trial. If such a recommendation is made, it will be sent to the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals, which will make the final decision on a new trial.
More than half of Texas lawmakers have called for its execution to be halted. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers traveled to Gatesville this month, where the state hosts women sentenced to death, and prayed with Lucio.
One of those lawmakers, El Paso Democrat MP Joe Moody, tweeted that he was relieved by Lucio. “The stay confirms what we have been saying all along: Melissa Lucio should not be sentenced to death,” he wrote.
Five of the 12 jurors who convicted Lucio and a deputy juror questioned her decision and asked for a new trial.
Lucio’s cause also has the support of religious leaders and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and was featured on HBO’s “Last Week with John Oliver.”
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