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. On February 17, 2007, paramedics were called to the Lucio residence because two-year-old Mariah was unresponsive and not breathing. She was interrogated for five hours by armed police officers who reportedly berated her. 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. The Texas Attorney General's Office maintains evidence shows Mariah suffered the "absolute worst" case of child abuse her emergency room doctor had seen in 30 years. 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. Ms. Lucio received a death penalty sentence and is appealing. 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. Ms. Lucio endured abuse throughout her childhood and into her teenage years. Ms. Lucio had no prior record of violence. Five of Lucios children were not living with her at the time of Mariah's death. He says he didnt know about Mariah Alvarezs serious injuries before she passed away. "She was a good mother. var tiktokscr = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; Lucio, who is an inmate on Texas death row, is set to be executed on Apr. They found out that Mariahs arm had been broken two to seven weeks before she died. "[24], On April 25, 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution and ordered the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron County to consider new evidence of Lucio's innocence in the death of her daughter. Studies have shown that even trained forensic dentists cant agree whether or not an injury is a bite mark. Isla Bryson Parents: Who Are The Parents Of Isla Bryson? Unprecedented pictures of Melissa Lucio 's examination have surfaced because of the absence of life column prisoner inside the narrative " Death by Mama" airs on ABC. Child Protective Services had previously investigated Lucio for allegations of child neglect, and they reported that Lucio's youngest children were often left in the care of their teenaged siblings. She allegedly suffered abuse by multiple partners that continued throughout her teenage years and into adulthood. The detectives also handed Lucio a doll and asked her to demonstrate what happened, according to the petition. 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. I dont want her to be executed, she says. "I think that's really significant that, you know, the individuals who heard the evidence against Melissa feel that the new evidence is so powerful that they may have voted differently in the case, and it just underscores the need for a court to consider the new evidence of Melissa's innocence," Potkin said. This is an incredibly serious allegation that must be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly in order to ensure justice for a young girl whose life has already been so drastically impacted by such trauma. But Ms. Lucios life is still in jeopardy. My mother was never the abusing woman -- the monster that the district attorney Armando Villalobos, former district attorney, made it seem like," John Lucio said. Selina says that Lucio was, not abusive to all of us. if(isYTTikTok == 1){ Two of the officers who interrogated Ms. Lucio were present at Mariahs autopsy, leading to a biased autopsy process, and an incomplete investigation into Mariahs health history and causes of her injuries and death. 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. 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. Kim Kardashian has joined the fight to stop the execution of Melissa Lucio, a woman sentenced to the death penalty for the death of her 2-year-old daughter in 2007. 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 little girl's mother, Melissa Lucio, claimed her daughter, Mariah Alvarez, had abrasions on her back and was covered in bruises because of a fall down a steep set of 14 steps two days earlier outside the family's new apartment. 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. A juror from the trial has since expressed concerns and regret over the verdict, according to the Innocence Project. Lucio claims that starting when she was seven years old, her mothers boyfriend sexually abused her for approximately two years. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. Detectives by law are also not allowed to lie to suspects. Paramedics were called to the Lucio home on February 17, 2007, as two-year-old Mariah was not breathing and was unresponsive. Lucio is set to be executed on April 27 for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. Paramedics were called and Lucio was quickly taken in for questioning about the death of her youngest child. His father, who survived, led the effort to save Whitaker, saying he would be victimized again if his son was executed. jsTikTok.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? Three jurors and one alternate in Lucio's trial have signed affidavits expressing doubts about her conviction. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. [17] This decision was subsequently overturned in an en banc hearing of the same court[18] and Lucio remained on death row. Okay, let's kill them. [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. 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. Mariah Alvarez: Melissa Lucio Daughter Mariah Alvarez Autopsy Viral on Twitter & Reddit. The Texas Rangers did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails for comment about the case. He concluded that Dr. Farley appeared to have jumped to wrong conclusions. Abbott has granted clemency to only one death row inmate, Thomas Whitaker, since taking office in 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court in October declined to review a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that upheld her conviction, paving the way for her execution. Lucio is seeking clemency as her April 27 execution date approaches. Ms. Lucios execution for April 27, for a crime that never occurred. This undated handout photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Melissa Lucio. Her next partner, who was also abusive, repeatedly raped her, and threatened to kill her. She is scheduled to be executed by. 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. Lucio was convicted of killing her daughter, Mariah Alvarez, 15 years ago in . Mariah Alvarez, daughter of Melissa Lucio, was a young little girl who lost her life at a very young age. 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. I believe that she should be in prison. 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. Grants Clemency To Julius Jones Hours Before Scheduled Execution Amid Public Pressure. We speak to one of Lucio's attorneys . The Cameron Countys new district attorney, the courts, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and Gov. I am now convinced that the jury got it wrong and I know that there is too much doubt to execute Lucio. "And we intend on keeping that promise.". They used coercive methods known to produce false confessions. "Please allow us to reconcile with Mariah's death and remember her without fresh pain, anguish and grief. [26], On March 6, 2022, in the main segment of an episode of the HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver called "Wrongful Convictions", her case was the main one to be mentioned as a reason for the reform of the American justice system and specifically, the abolition of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). It's because of the trauma that she has suffered all of her life," she said. The International Association of Chiefs of Police, a Virginia-based association for police leaders, has a guide on the best practices law enforcement should follow for successful trauma-informed interviewing. 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. 2023 Innocence Project. Melissa Lucio is where she needs to be locked up behind bars for the death of her 2 year old daughter Mariah Alvarez. Details about what allegedly happened in the interrogation room were also outlined in the clemency petition. At Ms. Lucios trial, the medical examiner testified that the bruises and injuries on Mariahs body could only have been caused by abuse. Lucio is set to be executed on April 27 for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. On Feb. 8, attorneys for Ms. Lucio, to withdraw or modify her looming execution date, and on March 22, her legal team, to the governor and Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. She was convicted of capital murder after the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, who was found to have scattered bruising in various stages of healing, as well as injuries to her head and contusions of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord. Website by MADEO. [22], In April 2022, a juror on the trial, Johnny Galvan Jr., wrote in the Houston Chronicle that he had wrongly succumbed to peer pressure during deliberations and had changed his vote from a life sentence to the death penalty. While she was in prison she gave birth to twins which made a total of four children. AP It stated that Lucio, who was pregnant with twins, was questioned by two armed detectives for more than five hours. Greg Abbott to grant an execution reprieve or commute her sentence. ET:This article has been updated to reflect the latest news in this case. Her supporters say she was . Lucio has said that her daughter who had a condition that caused her foot to be turned in fell down a flight of outdoor stairs as the family was preparing to move to a new apartment. If a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles were to recommend it, Governor Greg Abbott could grant clemency. As noted in the appeals court opinion document, one of the investigators described Lucio's behavior. Officers contaminated the confession by repeatedly showing Ms. Lucio photographs of relevant evidence and suggesting certain words and facts, which she ultimately parroted back to the officers. April 17 2022, 4:00 a.m. "Free Melissa . In this undated photograph, Melissa Lucio holds one of her sons, John. 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. Two days later, she took a nap and didnt wake up. , in recognition of the fact that bite mark evidence lacks scientific validity and following the exoneration of a man in Texas convicted based on faulty bite mark evidence, the Texas Forensic Science Commission recommended a state-wide moratorium on the use of bite mark evidence in criminal cases. According to Bonowitz, factors like ableism and racial and socioeconomic bias in the criminal justice system pose too much of a threat to warrant the use of the death penalty. As Lucio's case hangs in the balance, a group of bipartisan Texas lawmakers led by Republican Rep. Jeff Leach is pleading with Gov. Because of this, they decided to take her children and put them in foster care. 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. 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? Ms. Lucio, who was given the death penalty, is filing an appeal. Selina claims that none of her other siblings were abusive towards Mariah. [14], Forensic pathologist Dr. Thomas Young, the former chief medical examiner in Kansas City, Missouri, reviewed the case at the request of Lucio's post-conviction attorney. 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. 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