Over 80 legislators seek mom’s clemency
Letter to parole board supports South Texan set for execution in April for daughter’s death
More than 80 members of the Texas House have joined those calling for clemency or a retrial in the case of Melissa Lucio, who was sentenced to death in 2008 for the killing of her young daughter.
Lucio and her supporters say police coerced her confession, made mistakes throughout the investigation and trial, and disregarded evidence that complicated the narrative of the killing. Lucio’s supporters are trying to get Gov. Greg Abbott or the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to intervene before April 27, when her execution is scheduled. She would be the first Latina to be executed in Texas in the modern era.
Paramedics arrived at Lucio’s house in Harlingen in 2007 to help her young daughter, Mariah, who was unresponsive. She died at a hospital that night. Lucio said her daughter had slipped and fallen down a flight of stairs two days earlier, leading to the injuries. Prosecutors maintained that her death was the result of child abuse.
Lucio, who was pregnant at the time with twins, was interrogated by police for more than five hours, eventually saying: “I guess I did it. I’m responsible,” leading to her conviction.
Lucio’s lawyers and supporters are asking the parole board for a commutation of her sentence from death to life imprisonment and if not that, then a delay in the scheduled execution or a new trial. They were joined Thursday by six House members — three Democrats and three Republicans — at the state Capitol to express support for Lucio and call on action from the board.
“This case is especially troublesome, maybe the most questionable and concerning death penalty case Texas has seen in some time,” said Rep. Lacey Hull, a Houston Republican. “The facts
simply do not support any conclusion that Ms. Lucio committed capital murder and is deserving of the ultimate punishment from the state of Texas.”
Several made appeals based on faith and the worthiness of every person for redemption. Some Republicans said that if their caucus prides itself on being prolife, it must apply that ideology “from the womb to the tomb.”
Rep. Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat, said the parole board should consider victim impact statements from Lucio’s 11 children, who have said their mother’s execution would only traumatize them further.
Rep. Jeff Leach said he and other lawmakers have been in touch with Abbott’s office to advocate for Lucio and that a letter signed by more than 80 House members would be delivered to the board. Under state law, Abbott cannot offer clemency or a pardon without a recommendation from the board.
“When we ensure that we do everything we can to ensure that an innocent Texan is not put to death by the state, or even a potentially innocent Texan … we are strengthening our criminal justice system and we are ensuring justice for Mariah and the Lucio family,” said Leach, a Plano Republican.
Lucio’s lawyer Vanessa Potkin said the clemency request contains new evidence backing Lucio’s innocence, including a more detailed analysis of autopsy and medical records not considered in the initial trial. She said the causes of death were “never fully explored because by the time the autopsy had began, officials already had tunnel vision and had decided that this was a murder and Melissa was responsible.”
In about a quarter of cases in which women who are charged with crimes are later exonerated, the women provided false confessions to the crimes, Potkin said. And in 72 percent of female exoneree cases, most frequently child abuse, the alleged crime was either an accident or didn’t happen, she said.
Texas and other states have struggled over the years to ensure fair and exhaustive child abuse investigations. Abbott signed a bill into law last year enshrining a right to second medical opinions for abuse cases after reporting from Hearst Newspapers and NBC News found several cases in which parents had been accused based on questionable medical analyses.
As recently as this year, a Dallas couple were separated from their three young children because of mistaken suspicion of abuse, costing them nearly $300,000 and months of time with their kids.