Almost half of the jurors who sentenced a Texas mother to death for the 2007 death of one of her 14 children have asked to halt her execution and demanded that she should receive a new trial.
Melissa Lucio is set to be executed on Wednesday in Harlingen, Texas’ southernmost city, for the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah.
Mariah’s injuries, including a blow to the head, were caused by a fall down a steep staircase, according to her lawyers. Many lawmakers and celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, an advocate for criminal justice reform, and Amanda Knox, an American who was convicted of murdering a British student in Italy but had her conviction overturned, have rallied to Lucio’s cause. Prosecutors, on the other hand, maintain that the girl was a child abuse victim.
Lucio’s lawyers have filed several legal challenges in an attempt to halt her execution. She has also applied for mercy with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. It will hear her case on Monday. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, may potentially have a say in Lucio’s fate. If Lucio gets a sentence to death, she will be the first Latina up for execution in Texas. Also, she will be the first woman since 2014.
As Lucio’s execution date approaches, here’s what you should know:
What issues are of debate in the Melissa Lucio case?
Lucio’s attorneys claim that her capital murder conviction had its premise on an unreliable and pressured confession resulting from her long history of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. According to them, Lucio was not permissible to present evidence challenging the authenticity of her confession.
Mariah’s lawyers further claim that unscientific and inaccurate evidence misled the jurors. Thereby, leading them to believe Mariah’s injuries were due to physical abuse rather than medical repercussions from a traumatic fall.
“I 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 in a letter to Texas lawmakers.
Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz prosecuted the case. Saenz has stated that he disagrees with Lucio’s lawyers’ allegations that fresh evidence would exonerate her. Lucio, according to prosecutors, had a history of drug usage and had lost custody of some of her 14 children.
During a tense Texas House committee hearing on Lucio’s case earlier this month, Saenz originally refused to use his authority to stop the execution, before later suggesting he would intercede if the courts failed to act.
“I don’t disagree with all the scrutiny this case is getting. I welcome that,” Saenz said.
When Lucio was convicted in 2008, Armando Villalobos was the county’s district attorney. Lucio’s lawyers claim that he pushed for a conviction to benefit his reelection campaign. Villalobos was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for a bribery scheme related to offering favorable prosecutorial decisions.
Who is calling for Lucio’s execution to halt?
More than half of the Texas House and Senate members have petitioned for her execution to come to a halt. This month, a bipartisan group of Texas legislators visited Lucio in Gatesville, where the state keeps female death row convicts.
5 of the 12 jurors who sentenced Melissa Lucio had questioned her sentence. One alternate jury petitioned for a new trial. Lucio’s campaign has received support from religious leaders. It has been a highlight on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”. Her family and supporters have been traveling across Texas, staging protests and screenings of “The State of Texas vs. Melissa,” a documentary about her case that released in 2020.
Where do the efforts to stop the execution of Melissa Lucio stand?
State and federal courts are hearing appeals to halt Lucio’s execution.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is debating whether to commute her death sentence to life in prison or grant her a 120-day reprieve from execution.
Abbott would have to sign off on any decision by the parole board to modify her sentence or grant her a respite. The governor has only given clemency to one death row inmate since taking office in 2015.
Women’s execution
Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center is a nonprofit that opposes death punishment. According to it, women are rarely subjects of execution in the United States. The group’s data states women have accounted for only 3.6% of the more than 16,000 confirmed executions in the US. It likewise dates back to the colonial period in the 1600s.
As per the data, there have been 17 women executed throughout the nation since the Supreme Court reintroduced the death sentence in 1976. Texas has executed more women than any other state (6). Oklahoma comes in second with three executions, followed by Florida (2).
Since 1976, the federal government has executed one woman. After a 17-year hiatus, the Trump administration resumed executions in the federal system in January 2021, with Lisa Montgomery of Kansas receiving a lethal injection. During the Biden administration, the Justice Department delayed executions once again.