Lucio, 40, of Harlingen was found guilty of capital murder for the death of her 21/2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. There is now evidence that all three of these things happened in Ms. Lucios case. Mariah Alvarez: Melissa Lucio Daughter Mariah Alvarez Autopsy Viral on Twitter & Reddit. Experts who have studied false confessions and trauma response said Lucio's behavior is common in abuse victims and criticized the Rangers' interrogation tactics. In particular, the jury never learned about the extent of Ms. Lucios history of child sexual abuse and domestic violence and how it shaped her reactions immediately following her daughters death. Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from the Innocence Project: Ms. Lucio is facing execution on April 27 for a crime that never occurred. Mariah Alvarez was born to Melissa Lucio and Robert Alvarez in September 2004. Trial jurors, forensic experts, and Texas lawmakers push for Lucio's life to be spared ahead of her April 27 execution. The omission of this crucial evidence was particularly damaging because the prosecution had a weak case for capital murder, and an even weaker case for a death sentence. She says in another video that she never witnessed physical abuse, only her mother pinching Mariah or excluding her but says she later became aware that other physical abuse was happening. She is now fighting to stop her April 27 execution. Attempts to reach Crain were unsuccessful. At the time, Mr. Villalobos was seeking re-election, and came under fire for failing to thoroughly investigate or prosecute more than 100 previous allegations of child abuse. hide caption. [4] As of 2022, Lucio is being held on death row[14] at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. The Cameron County District Attorneys Office said Mariah was found at home with signs of abuse. Advertisement : [emailprotected] Mariahs autopsy showed signs of a blood coagulation disorder, which causes profuse bruising throughout the body. Lucio is now fighting to stop her April 27 execution date. As experts explain, particularly when wielded by male police officers the type of interrogation used against Ms. Lucio simply recapitulates the psychodynamics of domestic abuse. So, it makes sense that women, like Ms. Lucio, who learned to survive domestic abuse by accommodating and conforming to the wishes of the violent partner will likewise accommodate and conform to the demands of a threatening, armed male police officer in the interrogation room. Studies have shown that even trained forensic dentists cant agree whether or not an injury is a bite mark. During the interrogation, Lucio claimed her innocence over 100 times before eventually saying, I guess I did it, when asked if she was responsible for Mariahs injuries. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Lucio's conviction, ruling she was deprived of "her constitutional right to present a meaningful defense." [26], On March 6, 2022, in the main segment of an episode of the HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver called "Wrongful Convictions", her case was the main one to be mentioned as a reason for the reform of the American justice system and specifically, the abolition of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a134b9f398d2f98 Convicted of murdering one of her 9 children, her 2 year old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Her next partner, who was also abusive, repeatedly raped her, and threatened to kill her. New evidence suggests the death may have been an accident - and today, the Texas Board of Pardons . "There are already police departments around the world who have this more investigatory, fact-finding model," Guarnera said. The officers relied on their presumptions about how a mother should act in this tragic scenario and their gut-feeling, without a thorough forensic examination of the evidence to draw an unscientific presumption of guilt, which then created tunnel vision of investigators and the interrogating officers. pic.twitter.com/QZc5YyJZvo (@truecrimewitch) January 15, 2019 Her husband and Mariah's father, Robert Alvarez, was sentenced to four years in prison for child endangerment. Did OJ Simpson's Son Jason Kill Nicole Brown & Ron Goldman? 16th Street, 2nd Avenue, Batsona Community 18 According to Bonowitz, factors like ableism and racial and socioeconomic bias in the criminal justice system pose too much of a threat to warrant the use of the death penalty. The Innocence Project, a criminal justice reform nonprofit that aims to exonerate wrongly convicted persons using DNA and other evidence, joined Lucio's legal team soon after her execution was scheduled in January. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. Two days later, she took a nap and didnt wake up. However, pathologists who have reviewed the evidence have concluded that this testimony was false. She died two days later. The Lucio family went to the event to urge the governor to . if(isYTTikTok == 1){ He got a four-year sentence for causing injury to a child by omission even though he also was responsible for Mariah's care, Lucio's lawyers argue. Melissa Lucio and Robert Alvarez welcomed Mariah into the world in September 2004. Photos: Melissa Lucio Daughter, Mariah Alvarez Autopsy In the U.S. state of Texas, Melissa Lucio is the first woman of Hispanic descent to receive a death sentence. "Interrogation is also a very cognitively demanding task so you need to be listening, you need to be parsing the truth and falsity of the information, you need to be thinking about your future options and consequences.". Lucio, 53, was convicted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, in 2007. Because of this, they decided to take her children and put them in foster care. Lawyers in Melissa Lucio case request retrial, push for death sentence to be dropped, Rangers believed Lucio had killed Mariah on Feb. 17, 2007, fighting to stop her April 27 execution date, published report on interviewing domestic violence victims. In this undated photograph, Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio is holding one of her sons, John. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Research has shown that survivors of sexual abuse and violence, like Ms. Lucio, are even more vulnerable to falsely confessing under such coercive conditions. While Lucios attorneys contend that Mariahs death was brought on by a fall down the stairs two days earlier, prosecutors contend that Mariahs injuries were caused by physical abuse. Now, are you a cold-blooded killer or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on [Mariah]?" Ms. Lucio endured abuse throughout her childhood and into her teenage years. I'm responsible. . He then told Lucio that he would "help" her if she told him what he already knew. CPS records used in the trial do not evidence that suggests Lucio was abusive. "And we intend on keeping that promise.". "The Innocence Project recognized the urgency that an innocent woman was headed for execution," Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation for the organization, told ABC News. Photo courtesy of the family of Melissa Lucio via AP. Details about what allegedly happened in the interrogation room were also outlined in the clemency petition. Her lawyers say this lifelong trauma made her susceptible to giving a false confession. I am now convinced that the jury got it wrong and I know that there is too much doubt to execute Lucio. Please spare the life of our mother," Lucio's children wrote in a letter to Abbott and the board. A psychologist who reviewed recent testing of Melissa said that Melissa has highly abnormal levels of vulnerability to police coercion because of her background. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. "I think there's this thought or belief that if we give up the accusatory, guilt-presumptive, coercive style of American interrogations, it'll have bad consequences and we won't be able to convict people," she said. said, adding that an emergency room doctor said it was the "absolute worst" case of child abuse. During her trial, those statements were presented to the jury as her confession. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all things social justice, pop culture, and human interest. Nearly 1 in 3 exonerated women were wrongly convicted of harming children or other loved ones in their care and over 70% were wrongly convicted of crimes that never took place at all events that were accidents, deaths by suicide, or fabricated according to data from the National Registry of Exonerations. On April 15, Ms. Lucios. Lucio's legal team submitted an application for clemency to Texas Gov. Abbott must undertake a meaningful review of Ms. Lucios innocence claim, the coercive tactics used in her interrogation, and the tragic circumstances of Mariahs accidental death, before an irreversible injustice occurs. "If those threats in the interrogation are a trigger and she checks out, it can again be easy for her to just say whatever because she's trying to cope with what feels like a present threat.". However, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who reviewed the evidence concluded that the medical examiners testimony was misleading and there is nothing about Mariahs fracture that indicates that, was the result of an intentional act or abuse. At one point, a ranger got within inches of Lucio's face and said there was evidence that did not look good, the petition stated. It was later determined that Mariah's arm had been broken two to seven weeks before her death, and an autopsy also showed a head injury and bruising of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord. Lucio had been sexually assaulted multiple times, starting at age 6, and had been physically and emotionally abused by two husbands. Lucio was married at the age of 16 and had her first five children with Guadalupe Lucio. The Office of Justice Programs, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, said in a published report on interviewing domestic violence victims that detectives should "give credibility to the victim without expecting a high level of cooperation.". BROWNSVILLE - Melissa Elizabeth Lucio was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection in the 13th Judicial District Court, according to a Cameron county District Attorney's Office release. Melissa Lucio's daughter Mariah Alvarez's autopsy photos got released earlier, and the results are unconvincing to experts like Dr. Thomas Young. See additional information. Prosecutors say Lucio fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter but Lucio has long denied that, saying Mariah died from injuries sustained during a fall down a flight of stairs. Lucy Guarnera, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia who studies false confessions, said law enforcement often uses "behavioral lie detection" techniques that look at a person's actions to predetermine innocence or guilt. No physical evidence showed otherwise. By way of history, Mr. Alvarez found his daughter pale and not breathing in the family home and attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation until EMS arrived. In 2008, She was convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. After the trial, in which the prosecution said that her daughter's injuries could have only been caused by abuse, Lucio was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death. They also say Lucio wasn't allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession. "People generally confess falsely to get out of the interrogation room," Guarnera said. Yara Shahidi children: Does Yara Shahidi have children? Her dad passed away when she was a baby so her family moved to the Rio Grande Valley where her mother grew up when she was still a little kid. As the interrogation dragged on, Lucio told detectives that she had hit Mariah in the past, but did not say she killed the little girl. Lucio says she regrets the confession and her advocates suggest that. Keller, P.J., joined except for points 4 and 11, in which she concurs. Michelle Lucio, John's wife who knew Melissa Lucio prior to her conviction, recalled the conversations with her during their visits in prison. Additionally, court documents state that the emergency room physician said he had not seen a case of child abuse worse than Mariah's. Lucio, a mother of 14, is on death row for the 2007 murder of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah. Lucio is seeking clemency as her April 27 execution date approaches. It's like Cameron County prosecutor Alfredo Padilla said "the decision was based on evidence and evidence alone". Three older children went to live in Houston with their father, and Lucio regained custody of the others in late 2006.[5]. Lucio is set to be executed on April 27 for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. If I could take back my vote, I would, Johnny Galvan Jr., one of the jurors in Ms. Lucios case, wrote in, An innocent person is misclassified as a guilty suspect, Police coerce an innocent person into falsely incriminating themselves. Lucios defense team has pointed out many issues in the case that suggest Lucio never got a fair trial. the youngest of her 12 children at the time Ms. Lucio was taken into police custody and immediately blamed for her daughters death. Lucio, 53, would be the first Latina executed by Texas and the first woman since 2014. Texas lawmakers push for clemency or reprieve for Melissa Lucio, woman on death row accused of killing her child . . As noted in the appeals court opinion document, one of the investigators described Lucio's behavior. Isla Bryson Children: Does Isla Bryson Have Children. And experts who have reviewed Ms. Lucios case, including her interrogation records, have concluded that Ms. Lucio was relentlessly pressured and extensively manipulated during the interrogation. According to documents filed in the Texas Criminal Court Of Appeals in 2011, the children were found in unsafe conditions with scratches and insect bites. Melissa Lucio holds her daughter Mariah. HOUSTON During hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter. Melissa Lucio was born in Lubbock Texas on June 18 1969 as stated in court documents. American woman controversially sentenced to death, Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, List of death row inmates in the United States, List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States, List of women on death row in the United States, "Woman with Lubbock ties to be executed, many take up the cause to stop it", "Melissa Lucio is scheduled to be executed for a crime that may not have occurred", "Is Texas Sending Melissa Lucio to Die for a Crime That Never Happened? Okay, let's kill them. It played at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020, and won best documentary at the Raindance Film Festival. Afterward, Lucio had seven kids with Robert Alvarez. Selinas claims contradict the evidence presented in the case. But Ms. Lucios life is still in jeopardy. Potkin said Lucio's presumed guilt "was a complete rush to judgment" spurred on by misunderstanding, a "highly manipulative and coercive" interrogation and faulty forensics. The model was developed with the help of psychologists and takes a nonconfrontational approach to interrogations. "[24], On April 25, 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution and ordered the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron County to consider new evidence of Lucio's innocence in the death of her daughter. Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (born June 18, 1969) is the first woman of Hispanic descent to be sentenced to death in the U.S. state of Texas. They used coercive methods known to produce false confessions. However, pathologists who have reviewed the evidence have concluded that this testimony was false. The Cameron Countys new district attorney, the courts, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and Gov. She had numerous bruises, bite marks on her back, pulled-out hair patches, and a broken arm. The project's petition, asking Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz to rescind the execution, has received over 44,000 signatures. Read and share these key facts before Texas makes the irreversible mistake of killing an innocent woman. Lucio, born in Lubbock, Texas, endured years of abuse and violence, according to her attorneys. The Texas Attorney General's Office maintains evidence shows Mariah suffered the "absolute worst" case of child abuse her emergency room doctor had seen in 30 years. Her lawyers say that statement was wrongly interpreted by prosecutors as a murder confession tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariah's 2007 death, with evidence gathered only to prove that conclusion, and helping lead to her capital murder conviction. 2023 Innocence Project. Still a minor and unable to leave the abusive marriage, Ms. Lucio was trapped and developed a substance use problem. "https:" : "http:") + '//www.tiktok.com/embed.js'; At the time of her death, Mariah was healing from an injury to her arm, which the medical examiner also said was a sign of abuse. Child Protective Services had previously investigated Lucio for allegations of child neglect, and they reported that Lucio's youngest children were often left in the care of their teenaged siblings. Guadalupe Lucio and Melissa Lucio had their first five children together when they were just 16 years old with their youngest daughter Lucio being the most recent addition. Lucio's case was the subject of a 2020 documentary, The State of Texas vs. Melissa. Here are 5 things to . She was scheduled for execution on April 27, 2022. And 30 groups that work on behalf of the Latinx community in Texas have said they support clemency, too. She has maintained her innocence, and Cornell Law School professor Sandra Babcock has called the prosecution "by far the weakest capital case I've ever seen". Though Selina believes her mother is guilty, she does not want her to be killed and says she signed the petition to request clemency for Lucio. 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