{"id":107894,"date":"2024-11-19T00:03:50","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T00:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/death-row-inmate-melissa-lucio-innocent-in-daughters-death-judge-finds\/"},"modified":"2024-11-19T00:03:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T00:03:50","slug":"death-row-inmate-melissa-lucio-innocent-in-daughters-death-judge-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/death-row-inmate-melissa-lucio-innocent-in-daughters-death-judge-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Death row inmate Melissa Lucio ‘innocent’ in daughter’s death, judge finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Marilyn Nieves\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(GATESVILLE, Tx.) — The family of Melissa Lucio, a death row inmate whose execution was delayed in 2022, expressed hope that the Texas woman would be freed after a judge concluded last month that Lucio is \u201cactually innocent\u201d after she was convicted of capital murder in 2008 for the death of her 2-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the best news we could get going into the holidays,\u201d said her son, John Lucio, and daughter-in-law Michelle Lucio in a statement released by the Innocence Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pray our mother will be home soon,\u201d the Lucios added, joined by Lucio\u2019s son, Bobby Alvarez.<\/p>\n

In a 62-page ruling that was signed on Oct. 16, 2024, and reviewed by ABC News, Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson recommended that Lucio\u2019s conviction and death sentence be overturned in the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah.<\/p>\n

The judge found that prosecutors suppressed evidence and testimony \u2013 including statements from Lucio\u2019s other children \u2013 that could support the argument that Lucio was not abusive and that her daughter\u2019s death was accidental after a fall down the stairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Court finds (Lucio) has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder,\u201d Nelson wrote in the ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201c(T)his Court concludes there is clear and convincing evidence that no rational juror could convict Applicant of capital murder or any lesser included offense,\u201d Nelson added.<\/p>\n

The judge\u2019s recommendation was sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for review. ABC News reached out to the court for updates in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelissa Lucio lived every parent\u2019s nightmare when she lost her daughter after a tragic accident,\u201d Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, and one of Lucio\u2019s attorneys, said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became a nightmare from which she couldn\u2019t wake up when she was sent to death row for a crime that never happened. After 16 years on death row, it\u2019s time for the nightmare to end. Melissa should be home right now with her children and grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucio has maintained her innocence over the years.<\/p>\n

ABC News reached out to the Cameron County District Attorney\u2019s Office, which prosecuted this case, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n

Lucio\u2019s story gained national attention through filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel\u2019s 2020 Netflix documentary, \u201cMelissa vs. the State of Texas,\u201d a documentary that follows Lucio\u2019s journey on death row as she filed her last appeal.<\/p>\n

A bipartisan group of lawmakers backed the calls to free the Texas woman and her case was further bolstered by celebrities who called for her freedom, like Kim Kardashian and Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote the book \u201cDead Man Walking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abraham Bonowitz, coordinator of the #FreeMelissaLucio Campaign and executive director of Death Penalty Action, told ABC News in a statement on Thursday that Lucio credits the film with bringing attention to her case.<\/p>\n

“Melissa Lucio was once two days from execution. It took a film viewed by millions and a massive public relations campaign just to halt her execution and get the courts to order a fresh look at the evidence,\u201d Bonowitz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it were not for the film that was created, there would never have been enough pressure to stop the execution, which should concern us all \u2014 that if you don\u2019t have a film and you don\u2019t have a big campaign, then you can\u2019t be heard,\u201d Bonowitz added in a phone interview on Monday with ABC News.<\/p>\n

Amid growing calls for the court to review her case in 2022, Lucio was granted a stay of her scheduled April 27, 2022, execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 25, 2022 \u2013 after nearly 15 years on death row.<\/p>\n

“I thank God for my life,” Lucio said in an April 2022 statement reacting to the stay. “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.”<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marilyn Nieves\/Getty Images (GATESVILLE, Tx.) — The family of Melissa Lucio, a death row inmate whose execution was delayed in 2022, expressed hope that the Texas woman would be freed after a judge concluded last month that Lucio is \u201cactually innocent\u201d after she was convicted of capital murder in 2008Read More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"yoast_head":"\nDeath row inmate Melissa Lucio 'innocent' in daughter's death, judge finds - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TALK, DONE RIGHT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/death-row-inmate-melissa-lucio-innocent-in-daughters-death-judge-finds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Death row inmate Melissa Lucio 'innocent' in daughter's death, judge finds - 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