The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday granted a stay of execution for a woman who was set to be judicially killed on Wednesday for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children, ordering a lower court to review new evidence in the case.
Lawyers for Mexican-American Melissa Lucio, 52, say new evidence will prove her innocence in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah.
The appeals court ordered a lower county court to reconsider the evidence that her attorneys say shows her daughter died after an accidental fall down a steep flight of stairs at Lucio’s rental home, not because of child abuse.
When State Rep. Jeff Leach informed Lucio that she had been granted a stay of execution, she broke down in tears, saying, “Oh, thank you God,” according to an audio of the conversation obtained by CNN.
Lucio would have become the first Hispanic woman executed by Texas.
“I thank God for my life. I have always trusted in Him,” Lucio said in a statement released by her lawyers. “I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence. Mariah is in my heart today and always.”
Lucio’s lawyers in a 266-page petition presented medical and eye-witness evidence that they say proves Mariah died after an accidental fall at home.
Lucio’s attorneys also say her capital murder conviction was based on an unreliable and coerced confession that was the result of relentless questioning and her long history of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. They say Lucio wasn’t allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession.
Her lawyers also contend that unscientific and false evidence misled jurors into believing Mariah’s injuries only could have been caused by physical abuse and not by medical complications from a severe fall.
Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced Lucio to die for the death of her toddler said that had they known about the new evidence that wasn’t presented at her original trial in 2008, they would have decided differently.
“Melissa’s life matters. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence, and now locked away for these past 15 years, Melissa’s voice and experiences have never been valued,” Sandra Babcock, a member of Lucio’s legal team and a professor at Cornell law school said.
“The Court’s decision signals its willingness to finally hear Melissa’s side of the story,” Babcock added.
Lucio wrote in a letter to Texas lawmakers that she “knew that what I was accused of doing was not true.”
“My children have always been my world and although my choices in life were not good I would have never hurt any of my children in such a way,” Lucio wrote.
The stay of execution delays Lucio’s execution while the trial court reviews her legal team’s claims.
Lucio’s legal team says the evidence will be heard in trial court, which would then make a recommendation to the Texas appeals court. The appeals would decide whether Lucio should be granted a new trial.
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Isabel van Brugen is an award-winning journalist and currently a news reporter at The Epoch Times. She holds a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London.
