The Latina woman has been on death row in Texas since 2008 for the death of her two-year-old daughter Mariah Alvarez
Judge says Melissa Lucio, sentenced to death in Texas, is “actually innocent”
The judge presiding over the trial of Melissa Lucio , sentenced to capital punishment for the death of her daughter in 2007 and whose execution has been suspended, determined that the Latina mother “is actually innocent” and should be set free, according to the organization Proyecto Inocencia, which took on her defense.
Lucio, 56, has been on death row in Texas since 2008 for the death of his two-year-old daughter Mariah Alvarez.
In April 2022, the state Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay two days before his execution and ordered the trial court to review the case.
Specifically, she asked Judge Arturo Nelson, who presided over the trial against the woman, to reconsider whether the mother was really innocent and whether state prosecutors had presented false testimony and withheld evidence from the defense.
In a 62-page document submitted last month and revealed by the Innocence Project this week, Judge Nelson determined that Lucio “is in fact innocent; he did not kill his daughter” and that the little girl died after an accidental fall and not from abuse.
“There is clear and convincing evidence that Mariah fell down a flight of stairs two days before she died, just as Plaintiff told police; there is clear and convincing evidence that Plaintiff was highly susceptible to making a false confession under the interrogation techniques used on her,” Nelson wrote in his opinion.
The judge also agreed with current Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz that prosecutors at the time suppressed evidence supporting the Hispanic woman’s defense, so the sentence should be overturned.
“No rational jury could have convicted the plaintiff (Lucio) of killing her daughter after hearing all the evidence,” the judge said.
Saenz agreed with the judge that Lucio is entitled to a revocation of the sentence because his constitutional rights were violated.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will decide whether to accept Judge Nelson’s recommendation that the conviction and death sentence be vacated.
“Melissa Lucio lived every parent’s nightmare when she lost her daughter after a tragic accident. It became a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from when she was sent to death row for a crime that never happened… it’s time for the nightmare to end,” said Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio’s attorneys.