Judge recommends overturning death row inmate Melissa Lucio’s conviction and sending the case to the Texas Supreme Court

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The trial judge presiding over death row inmate Melissa Lucio’s capital murder trial found her innocent in her daughter’s death last month and recommended that her sentence and conviction be overturned. court documents Unsealed on Thursday.

Judge Arturo Nelson of Cameron County found that there was clear and convincing evidence that the death of Lucio’s 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, on Oct. 16 was caused by an accidental fall down the stairs and that prosecutors relied on false testimony. and flawed scientific evidence that would convince a jury of his guilt.

Lucio “was essentially innocent; he did not kill his daughter.”

The case now goes to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where the court must decide whether to accept Nelson’s recommendation to overturn Lucio’s conviction and death sentence.

“This is the best news we could have had heading into the holidays,” Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, John and Michelle Lucio, said in a statement. “We pray for our mother to return home soon.”

Lucio was convicted of capital murder in 2008. But there are doubts about the cause of Mariah’s death and the fairness of Lucio’s conviction reached fever pitch As supporters of Lucio in 2022 – incl. Most of the Texas Legislature – argued that there were too many questions about his trial to carry out his execution.

When paramedics arrived at the family’s Brownsville home in 2007, they found Mariah “bruised and unresponsive” with bruises and bruising all over her body.

Lucio has repeatedly denied harming his daughter. He described how Mariah fell down the stairs two days before her death and although she appeared well at first, her condition rapidly deteriorated, leaving her congested and lethargic.

Later, after nearly five hours of police interrogation on the night of Mariah’s death, Lucio told officers he slapped, pinched and bit Mariah, but never admitted to causing his daughter’s death.

The State’s case rested primarily on this “confession” at trial; The judge barred expert testimony about why Lucio, a long-time victim of domestic and sexual abuse, tried to explain why he made a false confession under pressure from men. authority figures.

Prosecutors also centered on a medical doctor’s testimony that Mariah’s injuries “could only have been caused by intentional physical abuse.”

Criminal Appeal Court Stopped Lucio’s execution In 2022, he ordered the court to consider whether Lucio is truly innocent and whether the state lied at trial and withheld evidence from the defense.

In April, Nelson acknowledged: prosecution suppressed evidence This supported Lucio’s innocence at trial and recommended that his conviction be overturned.

In interviews with police after Mariah’s death, Lucio’s five children denied physically abusing their mother and confirmed that Mariah had fallen down the stairs. At least one of her children said she saw Mariah fall.

Prosecutors did not share those interviews with the defense during the 2022 trial, which Lucio’s attorneys and Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, who is not involved in the case, said were a violation of his constitutional rights.

In June, the Court of Criminal Appeals asked Nelson to make recommendations on three key arguments Lucio presented in winning the remand, regarding his actual innocence, false testimony presented by the state, and new scientific evidence.

Last month, Nelson advised in his favor on all three claims.

The judge found “clear and convincing evidence” that Mariah’s fatal head injury occurred when she fell down the stairs two days before she died, and that even if Lucio’s “confession” were true, the actions he admitted to would not have caused his daughter’s death. death.

“No reasonable juror could have convicted the Applicant of murdering his daughter after hearing all the evidence from his first trial, as well as all the new evidence he presented,” he wrote.

Nelson also agrees that scientific evidence not presented at trial would undermine the state’s case.

He found that there was compelling evidence that Lucio was highly susceptible to making false confessions during intense interrogation, and that the injuries to Mariah’s body were likely related to her fall and not to biting or abuse as the state claimed.

And the judge found that the state used “false and misleading evidence regarding two key factual issues at issue at trial.”

At the hearing, the state medical examiner testified that it was impossible for Mariah’s injuries and death to result from an accidental fall.

But Nelson agreed that Mariah’s autopsy, eyewitness accounts of her fall and subsequent deterioration provided credible evidence that she died of head trauma from an accidental fall down the stairs, not from abuse.

A Texas Ranger also testified that he could determine Lucio’s guilt based on his demeanor and body language in the interrogation room. The judge found that scientific consensus says no one can determine whether a person is telling the truth based on their demeanor.

Nelson found that these key pieces of false testimony “influenced the jury’s verdict” and violated Lucio’s due process rights.

“Melissa Lucio lived every parent’s nightmare when she lost her daughter after a tragic accident,” Vanessa Potkin, Lucio’s attorney and special litigation director for the Innocence Project, said in a statement. “After 16 years on death row, it’s time for the nightmare to end.”