STAY OF EXECUTION
Melissa Lucio death row update: Execution halted after Kim Kardashian fought for Texas mom & case sent back to court
A DEATH row inmate's execution has been halted by a court just two days before the mother was scheduled to be put to death.
Melissa Lucio, a 53-year-old mother of 13, was found guilty of capital murder in the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter, who fell down 14 steep steps.
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On Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent Lucio's case back to the Cameron County Court, where she was originally tried.
The court was ordered to consider new evidence of Lucio's innocence in her daughter Mariah's death. The court is also expected to weigh whether the state provided false testimony during the trial and hid evidence from the defense, The Texas Tribute reports.
The ruling came minutes before a Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles' vote on whether to recommend that the governor delays the execution for at least 120 days.
“I thank God for my life," Lucio said in a statement following the court order.
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"I have always trusted in him. I am grateful the court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence.
"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."
Lucio went on to thank everyone who prayed for her and spoke out on her behalf ahead of the planned execution on April 27.
DEATH SENTENCE
Jurors sent Lucio to death row in 2008 after the state argued that Lucio was responsible for her daughter's fatal injuries.
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On February 15, 2007, Lucio's daughter, Mariah, "who had a mild disability and was prone to tripping," had fallen down the stairs but seemed fine afterward.
She died days later from what a medical examiner said was a homicide caused by blunt-force head trauma.
Two hours after her daughter was pronounced dead, police interrogated Lucio, who was pregnant with twins, for five hours, her lawyer Vanessa Potkin told The Sun.
"They showed her pictures of her dead child, screamed at her, and called her a bad mother," Potkin said.
"When they're interrogating for that long, they aren't leaving without a confession."
During hours of relentless questioning about her daughter's death, Lucio more than 100 times denied fatally beating her two-year-old.
But worn down from a lifetime of abuse and the grief of losing Mariah, her lawyers say she gave in to investigators.
“I guess I did it," Lucio reportedly responded when asked if she was responsible for some of Mariah's injuries.
Her lawyers said that the statement was wrongly interpreted by prosecutors as a murder confession, tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariah’s death.
SUPPORT FOR LUCIO
Lucio has seen support from some well-known names during her battle to be saved from execution.
Kim Kardashian urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to grant Lucio clemency after she “falsely pleaded guilty”.
She said: “It's stories like Melissa's that make me speak so loud about the death penalty in general and why it should be banned when innocent people are suffering."
Exoneree Amanda Knox, who was wrongfully convicted of murder, also spoke out in support of Lucio.
"It's a rite of passage, I learned, the first time your child falls, that first moment of parental negligence, that first jolt of unexpected pain that shocks them (and you) into tears," Knox wrote.
"But an hour later, they're okay and you're okay, and life goes on. Unless it doesn't."
One of the jurors who sentenced Lucio to death wrote a newspaper editorial claiming that he was misled and pressured during Lucio's trial.
Johnny Galvan Jr wrote in The Houston Chronicle that he had succumbed to “peer pressure” when making his decision.
He said he changed his vote from a life sentence to the death penalty because they’d "be there all day" if he didn’t.
The stay of execution was welcome news to her lawyers and supporters around the United States.
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"We know that Melissa’s children — Mariah’s brothers and sisters — and Mariah’s grandparents, aunts and uncles are all relieved and grateful that Melissa’s life will not be taken by the State of Texas," Lucio's lawyers said Monday.
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"And we believe the court honored Mariah’s memory because Melissa is innocent. Melissa is entitled to a new, fair trial."
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