Alice Kelly is a senior news and entertainment editor for YourTango. In a previous investigation into Lucio for alleged child neglect, Child Protective Services found that his youngest kids were frequently left in the care of their older, teenage siblings. His father, who survived, led the effort to save Whitaker, saying he would be victimized again if his son was executed. On February 17, 2007, paramedics were called to the Lucio residence because two-year-old Mariah was unresponsive and not breathing. According to documents filed in the Texas Criminal Court Of Appeals in 2011, the children were found in unsafe conditions with scratches and insect bites. Ms. Lucio had nine more children, including Mariah. 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. As a result, she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociation, according to her legal team. MELISSA ELIZABETH LUCIO, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS ON DIRECT APPEAL CAUSE NUMBER 07-CR-885-B IN THE 138TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT CAMERON COUNTY Hervey, J., delivered the opinion of the Court in which Meyers, Johnson, Keasler, Cochran, and alcala, JJ., joined. She also claims three of her older siblings, who have largely stood by Lucio, were not around for the abuse and were living in a different home. The woman, Melissa Lucio, a mother of 14, was found guilty back in 2008 in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah. Updated on April 18, 2022, 7:30 p.m. The detectives shouted at her, berated her for being a neglectful mother, and implied that if Mariah's death was not her fault then it had to have been one of her children, according to the petition. Alexander Molony Girlfriend: Who Is Alexander Molony Girlfriend? Lucio was convicted in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, and sentenced to be executed. Ms. Lucio is a survivor of life-long, repeated sexual assault and domestic violence. She is scheduled to be executed by. She also spoke in one of her sisters TikToks and claimed that blame was placed on her in an attempt to free Lucio. It stated that Lucio, who was pregnant with twins, was questioned by two armed detectives for more than five hours. Ms. Lucio received a death penalty sentence and is appealing. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The hourslong interrogation ended with Lucio being coerced into confessing, her legal team has said, arguing that her past experiences with physical abuse and sexual assault made her susceptible to taking responsibility for her daughter's death even though, they said, she was innocent. 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. 89.44.32.192 Her young daughter Mariah died and had many injuries like bruises on her head kidneys lungs spinal cord and . As the interrogation dragged on, Lucio told detectives that she had hit Mariah in the past, but did not say she killed the little girl. [9][23] The Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, announced on April 22 that he sent a letter to Governor Abbott asking him to grant executive clemency to Lucio, as "Mexico has historically manifested an unwavering commitment in its opposition to the death penalty. Mariahs autopsy showed signs of a blood coagulation disorder, which causes profuse bruising throughout the body. "[20], In January 2022, Cameron County officials signed an execution warrant for Lucio. After Mariah was born authorities found out that Lucio had taken cocaine. RELATED: 5 Death Penalty Facts That Will Make You Want To Abolish It Now. "Her autopsy revealed bruised kidneys, a bruised spinal cord and bruised lungs," the D.A. Among the tips is to make the victim feel safe, arrange for an advocate to be present in the room, express compassion and not interrupt the victim. While she was incarcerated, she gave birth to twins, making four total. Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from the Innocence Project: Ms. Lucio is facing execution on April 27 for a crime that never occurred. The medical examiner also testified at trial that a mark on Mariahs body were bite marks. Melissa Lucio holds her daughter Mariah. They contend Mariah died from injuries from a fall down the 14 steps of a steep staircase outside the family's apartment in the South Texas city of Harlingen. Melissa Lucio and Robert Alvarez became parents to Mariah in September 2004. I'm responsible for it," she said, according to the petition. Website by MADEO. Keep up with her Twitter for more. Unable to be resuscitated, her daughter was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Minyvonne Burkeis a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Questions over Mariah Alvarez's death and Lucio's role in it have lingered since the now-53-year-old mother was sentenced to death in 2008. I am now convinced that the jury got it wrong and I know that there is too much doubt to execute Lucio. Mariah was the twelfth child of Lucio. Melissa Lucio's daughter Mariah Alvarez's autopsy photos got released earlier, and the results are unconvincing to experts like Dr. Thomas Young. Ms. Lucio got the death penalty but shes asking for a chance to appeal. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. The photos current inside and out . ", "Her execution date looming, a mother maintains innocence in 2-year-old daughter's death", "Execution date set for Harlingen mom for murdering daughter", "Melissa Lucio execution - latest: Kim Kardashian appeals to Texas governor as juror says death sentence wrong", "Death row mum-of-14 hopes new videos could clear her of toddler's fatal fall", "Texas Set to Execute Melissa Lucio Despite Credible Claims of Innocence", "Former Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos Sentenced To Federal Prison In Connection With South Texas Bribery Scheme", "Harlingen woman faces April execution for daughter's 2007 murder", "Melissa Elizabeth Lucio v. The State of Texas (concurring)", "Federal Appeals Court Overturns Mother's Conviction in Texas Child Murder Case That May Have Been an Accidental Death", "Divided Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Death Sentence for Texas Mother of Child Who May Have Died in Accidental Fall", "Court Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law: Manuel Velez", "A Texas mother could be executed in April. Lucios defense team has pointed out many issues in the case that suggest Lucio never got a fair trial. "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. Okay, let's kill them. Lucio was found guilty of abusing and killing her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, in 2007. Mariah was Lucio's twelfth child. RELATED: Rumors Swirl That Kim Kardashian May Eventually Run For Office What A Kardashian Presidency Could Look Like. A psychologist who reviewed recent testing of Melissa said that Melissa has highly abnormal levels of vulnerability to police coercion because of her background. In a 2010 affidavit, one of Lucios sisters claimed to remember a different conversation in which Alexandra admitted to punching Mariah out of resentment for having to care for her while Lucio and her husband did drugs. There is now evidence that all three of these things happened in Ms. Lucios case. Lucio's lawyers say jurors never heard forensic evidence that would have explained that Mariah's various injuries were actually caused by a fall days earlier. "Mariah's death was a tragedy not a murder. Shes guilty of abusing my sister which led to the death of my sister. Her inadvertent statement was then characterized by the prosecution as a confession to murder. Bite mark analysis has been. Child Protective Services was present in the family's life, but there was never an accusation of abuse by any of her children, Potkin said. The State presented no physical evidence or witness testimony establishing that Lucio abused Mariah or any of her children, let alone killed Mariah, Judge Catharina Haynes wrote on behalf of the seven dissenting judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After several hours of interrogation, Lucio stated, "I guess I did it. If I could take back my vote, I would, Johnny Galvan Jr., one of the jurors in Ms. Lucios case, wrote in, An innocent person is misclassified as a guilty suspect, Police coerce an innocent person into falsely incriminating themselves. var tiktokscr = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; They also argued that a judge's order to exclude expert testimony on the effects of trauma had "deprived Melissa of the only means she had of explaining that, notwithstanding her demeanor and self-incriminating statements, she was innocent of her daughter's murder. As indicated by legal counsel at the Lucio Reassessment Watch group, Melissa is not at fault. "https:" : "http:") + '//www.tiktok.com/embed.js'; It's like Cameron County prosecutor Alfredo Padilla said "the decision was based on evidence and evidence alone". According to Dr. Young, Melissa Lucio should not be executed because he believes she is innocent. In particular, the jury never learned about the extent of Ms. Lucios history of child sexual abuse and domestic violence and how it shaped her reactions immediately following her daughters death. Lucio claims that starting when she was seven years old, her mothers boyfriend sexually abused her for approximately two years. Prosecutors, however, painted a different picture. On the other hand, her lawyers have been claiming that she was wrongfully convicted of beating her own child. After nearly 15 years on death row in Texas, Lucio was granted a stay of her scheduled . During the interrogation, officers berated and intimidated Ms. Lucio, who was pregnant and in shock from the loss of her child, for five hours. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. She has maintained her innocence, and Cornell Law School professor Sandra Babcock has called the prosecution "by far the weakest capital case I've ever seen". Selina says that Lucio was, not abusive to all of us. Ms. Lucio struggled at times to provide for her family, but was a caring mother, who did her best given her incredibly difficult circumstances. The project's petition, asking Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz to rescind the execution, has received over 44,000 signatures. Lacking solid physical evidence, Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos presented Ms. Lucios conciliatory statement to the jury as a confession to homicide and sought the death penalty. Alexander Molony Children: Does Alexander Molony Have A Child? Hours after Mariah's death, Lucio was interrogated by police for over five hours, according to her lawyers. Lucio told police Mariah fell asleep and did not wake up. 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. [11][12] A pathologist, Dr. Norma J. Farley, testified that the childs autopsy indicated that she did not die from falling down stairs, and instead her injuries were consistent with a death from blunt force trauma. Death Row Stories, a Netflix documentary set to premiere this Friday (May 25), has revealed Lucio’s twisted thoughts and the heinous crime she committed. And they found that her statements are completely unreliable, that they're a mere regurgitation of the words that the officers were feeding to her over the course of five hours," Potkin said. Lucio had been sexually assaulted multiple times, starting at age 6, and had been physically and emotionally abused by two husbands. 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. 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. During her interrogation, Ms. Lucio asserted her innocence more than 100 times, until she was manipulated into falsely taking responsibility for some of Mariahs injuries by police officers. Abbott must undertake a meaningful review of Ms. Lucios innocence claim, the coercive tactics used in her interrogation, and the tragic circumstances of Mariahs accidental death, before an irreversible injustice occurs. Lucio and her children struggled through poverty. Mariah's mother, Melissa Lucio was convicted of capital murder in this case. "I guess I did it," Lucio responded when asked if she was responsible for some of Mariah's injuries. Lucio, born in Lubbock, Texas, endured years of abuse and violence, according to her attorneys. Now, are you a cold-blooded killer or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on [Mariah]?" Alexander Molony Parents: Who Are Alexander Molony Parents? 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. [4] As of 2022, Lucio is being held on death row[14] at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. In a now-deleted tweet, Kardashian described the crime as a tragic accident. However, some of Lucios children have spoken out, insisting that their mother is guilty. The autopsy showed that Mariah also had a head injury and bruises on her kidneys lungs and spinal cord. The Cameron County District Attorneys Office reports that Mariah was discovered at the residence with physical evidence of abuse. She died two days later. ", "Texas mother is set for execution as evidence suggests she did not kill her child", "I voted to sentence Melissa Lucio to death. At the time of her death, Mariah was healing from an injury to her arm, which the medical examiner also said was a sign of abuse. Mariah Alvarez: Melissa Lucio Daughter Mariah Alvarez Autopsy Viral on Twitter & Reddit. Grants Clemency To Julius Jones Hours Before Scheduled Execution Amid Public Pressure. "What am I going to say? In shock and grieving the loss of her baby. "There's so much more to it that happens way before the crime.". In a letter last month to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and to Abbott, 83 Texas House members said executing Lucio would be "a miscarriage of justice.". Isla Bryson Parents: Who Are The Parents Of Isla Bryson? Lawyers in Melissa Lucio case request retrial, push for death sentence to be dropped, Rangers believed Lucio had killed Mariah on Feb. 17, 2007, fighting to stop her April 27 execution date, published report on interviewing domestic violence victims. HOUSTON During hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter. Hundreds of anti-domestic violence/sexual assault organizations and 18 Texas exonerees have voiced support for clemency for Ms. Lucio. Three jurors and one alternate in Lucio's trial have signed affidavits expressing doubts about her conviction. In the similar case of Manuel Velez, a man who was initially convicted for murdering a one-year-old baby and whose death sentence was overturned after further investigation, Farley's conclusions had also been contradicted by other medical experts. The Cameron Countys new district attorney, the courts, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and Gov. But Ms. Lucios life is still in jeopardy. Lucio is set to be executed on April 27 for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. Greg Abbott and the Board of Pardons and Paroles in March of this year, arguing an unreliable confession and "unscientific, false evidence that misled the jury into believing that Mariah Alvarez must have been killed by physical abuse, when the evidence is actually consistent with a conclusion that Mariah died from medical complications after a fall" based on the declarations of various experts. Tema, Ghana, Phone: +233 24 137 5919 Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP. You know? Photos: Melissa Lucio Daughter Mariah Alvarez Autopsy - Melissa Lucio is the first Hispanic woman to receive a death sentence in the state of Texas. Additionally, court documents state that the emergency room physician said he had not seen a case of child abuse worse than Mariah's. She allegedly suffered abuse by multiple partners that continued throughout her teenage years and into adulthood. RELATED: Oklahoma Gov. . These conditions led her to be manipulated into admitting she caused her daughter's death despite Lucio asserting her innocence over 100 times throughout the interrogation, according to her lawyers. Melissa Lucio holds her daughter Mariah. After the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, who had injuries to her head, contusions of the kidneys, lungs, and spinal cord, as well as scattered bruises that were in various stages of healing, she was found guilty of capital murder. But Ms. Lucios life is still in jeopardy. See additional information. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. The state argued that Lucio confessed to a pattern of abusing Mariah and to inflicting fatal blows to the . When she was a toddler, the family moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where her mother had grown up, after her father passed away when she was still an infant. She was especially vulnerable, her lawyers say, as she was grieving for her daughter, pregnant with twins at the time, and a victim of abuse and trauma throughout her life. Instead of taking the steps to learn about Mariahs health history and investigating the causes of her injuries, authorities immediately jumped to the conclusion that she had been murdered and, through a coercive interrogation, pressured Ms. Lucio to make a false statement. He can grant clemency if a majority of the paroles board recommends it. The tragic incident that took away a young life happened in her own house. Eighty-three Texas legislators from both sides of the aisle have signed a letter urging the governor and Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles to grant Ms. Lucio clemency. Former Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, who was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison in 2014 for extortion in a case unrelated to Lucio's, described this statement as a confession during the trial. "She was not evil. Details about what allegedly happened in the interrogation room were also outlined in the clemency petition. The Lucio family went to the event to urge the governor to . They also claim that Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos had previously been accused of inadequately investigating over 100 claims of child abuse. Abbott has granted clemency to only one death row inmate, Thomas Whitaker, since taking office in 2015. Grants Clemency To Julius Jones Hours Before Scheduled Execution Amid Public Pressure, She also claims three of her older siblings, 5 Death Penalty Facts That Will Make You Want To Abolish It Now, Man Refuses To Let His Friend's Service Dog Over To His House Because He's 'Not A Dog Person', Woman Claims Uber Driver 'Sighed' And 'Complained' About Having To Load Her Wheelchair Into His Car, Pedro Pascale Fans Rediscover His Camp Character In 90s Hit Show Undressed & Cant Get Enough Of It, Rumors Swirl That Kim Kardashian May Eventually Run For Office What A Kardashian Presidency Could Look Like. Lucio, 53, would be the first Latina executed by Texas and the first woman since 2014. "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. The boy then responded: "No, I saw her fall. Studies have shown that even trained forensic dentists cant agree whether or not an injury is a bite mark. Liza Soberano children: Does Liza Soberano Have Children? Calls are growing for Texas to stop the approaching execution of Melissa Lucio, who says she was wrongfully convicted of killing her toddler Mariah in 2007. Lucio, who is an inmate on Texas death row, is set to be executed on Apr. [25], A 2020 documentary by Sabrina Van Tassel titled The State of Texas vs. Melissa follows Lucio's case. 16th Street, 2nd Avenue, Batsona Community 18 This undated handout photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Melissa Lucio. As her April 27 execution date nears, Lucio's lawyers are hopeful that new evidence, along with growing public support including from jurors who now doubt the conviction and from more than half the Texas House of Representatives will persuade the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Melissa Lucio is where she needs to be locked up behind bars for the death of her 2 year old daughter Mariah Alvarez. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. The Innocence Project notes that Lucio was pregnant with twins at the time and was likely overwhelmed and grief-stricken after Mariahs death. More than 130 Baptist, Evangelical and Catholic faith leaders in Texas, including the executive director of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and the director of the Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association, support clemency for Ms. Lucio. The Innocence Project, a criminal justice reform nonprofit that aims to exonerate wrongly convicted persons using DNA and other evidence, joined Lucio's legal team soon after her execution was scheduled in January. Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (born June 18, 1969) is the first woman of Hispanic descent to be sentenced to death in the U.S. state of Texas. The district attorney's office said in a statement to the Brownsville Herald that Mariah had been "severely beaten," had "bruises in various states of healing covering her body" and had missing portions of her hair. Because of this, they decided to take her children and put them in foster care. At the time of her death, Mariah was healing from an injury to her arm, which the medical examiner also said was a sign of abuse. "Our campaign is called Free Melissa Lucio because we don't want to just save her, we want her out," Bonowitz said. The officers relied on their presumptions about how a mother should act in this tragic scenario and their gut-feeling, without a thorough forensic examination of the evidence to draw an unscientific presumption of guilt, which then created tunnel vision of investigators and the interrogating officers. The toddler had a mild physical disability that made her unstable while walking and prone to tripping. 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. She wasn't a perfect mother, but she made sure we were taken care of," he said. It would send a message that innocence doesn't matter," said Vanessa Potkin, one of Lucio's attorneys who is with the Innocence Project. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Lucio's conviction, ruling she was deprived of "her constitutional right to present a meaningful defense." In 2008, She was convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Mariah Alvarez: Melissa Lucio Daughter Mariah Alvarez Autopsy Viral on Twitter & Reddit. American woman controversially sentenced to death, Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, List of death row inmates in the United States, List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States, List of women on death row in the United States, "Woman with Lubbock ties to be executed, many take up the cause to stop it", "Melissa Lucio is scheduled to be executed for a crime that may not have occurred", "Is Texas Sending Melissa Lucio to Die for a Crime That Never Happened? If I could take back my vote, I would, Johnny Galvan Jr., one of the jurors in Ms. Lucios case, wrote in a recent op-ed in the Houston Chronicle. No physical evidence showed otherwise. The State presented no physical evidence or witness testimony establishing that Lucio abused Mariah or any of her children, let alone killed Mariah, Judge Catharina Haynes wrote on behalf of the seven dissenting judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in response to the States scheduling of Lucios execution on April 27, 2022. Lucio claimed Mariah had fallen down a flight of stairs two days prior and suffered the wounds. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Convicted of murdering one of her 9 children, her 2 year old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. We're asking the governor and Board of Pardons and Paroles and the district attorney, which are the three [political] entities that can do something about this, to watch the filmbecause we believe anybody that watches this film will come away at least with doubt if not being convinced of Melissa's innocence," Bonowitz said. Mariah fell down a flight of stairs while the family was moving homes on Feb. 15, 2007. Texas lawmakers push for clemency or reprieve for Melissa Lucio, woman on death row accused of killing her child . Shanda Crain, who was convicted of killing her parents in 1995 in Washington Parish, Louisiana, said in an academic paper that she found similarities between her case and Lucio's. Hours after Melissa Lucio's 2-year-old daughter died in 2007, Texas Rangers took Lucio to an interrogation room where they yelled at her, threatened her and showed her pictures of her dead child, her attorneys said. On April 12, attorneys for Melissa filed a supplemental clemency application including a new declaration from a fifth juror Melissas jury foreperson who joins the calls of four other jurors and the alternate to halt Melissas pending execution or grant her a new trial where new evidence of her innocence can be considered. Ms. Lucios execution for April 27, for a crime that never occurred. "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.". But worn down from a lifetime of abuse and the grief of. The Cameron County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Lucio, declined to comment. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a134b9f398d2f98 Lucio is seeking clemency as her April 27 execution date approaches. Many family members and supporters say the girl's . Lucio that her teenage daughter, Alexandra, may have been responsible for the bruises found on Mariahs body after her death. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Afterward, Lucio had seven kids with Robert Alvarez. Greg Abbott and other elected officials to stop her execution. The parole board was scheduled to vote on Lucio's clemency petition two days before the execution. At the time, Mr. Villalobos was seeking re-election, and came under fire for failing to thoroughly investigate or prosecute more than 100 previous allegations of child abuse. . Attempts to reach Crain were unsuccessful. . In 2008 a Cameron County jury found Lucio guilty on one count of capital murder for causing the death of her daughter, Mariah Alvarez. The only person who abused my sister was my mother, Melissa Lucio, she claims in another video. What we know today which we didnt know 15 years ago is that survivors of significant trauma and domestic abuse, like Ms. Lucio, are particularly vulnerable to the coercive police interrogation that Ms. Lucio endured for over five hours. Abbott and the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Mariah was the twelfth child of Lucio. Mariah Alvarez was born to Melissa Lucio and Robert Alvarez in September 2004. if(isYTTikTok == 1){ Andy Griffiths, a former senior investigating officer with the U.K. police, wrote in a 2012 article that the Peace model trains officers to focus on "probing a suspect's account" instead of trying to force a confession. 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. I am now convinced that the jury got it wrong and I know that there is too much doubt to execute Lucio.