Melissa Lucio - latest: Family look forward to celebrating Mother’s Day after stay of execution
Follow live updates on Melissa Lucio’s fight for her life
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Your support makes all the difference.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Melissa Lucio a stay of execution on Monday and ordered a court to consider new evidence in her case, just 48 hours before she was scheduled to be put to death.
Lucio was told the news in an emotional phone call with Texas Rep Jeff Leach where the Hispanic mother-of-14 sobbed and gasped, asking “are you serious?”
In a statement, the 53-year-old thanked God for saving her life and paid tribute to her late daughter Mariah who “is in my heart today and always”.
Lucio’s attorneys and supporters also celebrated the ruling including Kim Kardashian who called it the “best news ever”.
The last-minute stay came minutes before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was to recommend whether or not Lucio’s death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment or if she should be granted a 120-day execution reprieve. The parole board said it would not recommend clemency after the stay was announced.
Lucio was sentenced to death for the 2007 murder of her two-year-old daughter Mariah.
Her lawyers say she was coerced into a false confession during an aggressive police interrogation and that scientific evidence shows Mariah died from a fall.
‘I thank God for my life’: Melissa Lucio is granted 11th-hour stay of execution by Texas appeals court
‘Melissa’s life matters’: Campaigners react as Texas court pauses Melissa Lucio execution- Emotional moment Melissa Lucio learns she has been granted a stay of execution
Kim Kardashian celebrates Melissa Lucio execution delay: ‘Best news ever’
‘Fighting for momma bear’: Melissa Lucio’s son begs Texas to halt her execution for a crime he knows ‘she couldn’t have done’
Sabrina Butler-Smith escaped execution after she was falsely accused of killing her son. Now, she’s fighting for Melissa Lucio
From Kim Kardashian to Amanda Knox: Famous names who have joined fight for Melissa Lucio and why
What happens next?
The order from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals means that Wednesday’s execution has now been called off.
However, it does not mean that Melissa Lucio is now free or that she has been exonerated.
Instead, her case will now be sent back to the trial court – the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron County – to consider the new evidence put forward in the case which supports her claim of innocence.
It is not clear when the lower court will begin reviewing the case.
Lucio’s attorney told The Independent last week that if a stay was granted, the next step for her legal team would be to ask for an evidentiary hearing to present the new evidence.
There, they would ask for Lucio to be granted a new trial.
US Rep Joaquin Castro joins in celebrations over stay of execution
US Rep Joaquin Castro joined in the celebrations that Melissa Lucio’s looming execution has been halted.
The congressman, who represents Texas’s 20th congressional district, said there was “strong evidence” of Lucio’s innocence.
“I’m glad that Melissa Lucio’s execution has been stayed! There’s strong evidence that she did not commit the crime she was charged with,” he tweeted.
Melissa Lucio’s attorney says ‘Melissa’s life matters'
Sandra Babcock, the director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and one of Melissa Lucio’s attorneys, said Monday’s decision from the Texas appeals court showed the “Melissa’s life matters”.
“The Court’s decision paves the way for Melissa to present evidence of her innocence that should have been heard by the jury that condemned her to death fourteen years ago,” she said in a statement.
“As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence, and now locked away for these past 15 years, Melissa’s voice and experiences have never been valued.
“The Court’s decision signals its willingness to finally hear Melissa’s side of the story. If the district court hears all the evidence of Melissa’s innocence, and the gender bias that infected the police investigation and prosecution, we are confident she will return home to her family.”
Supporters gathered at the state Capitol celebrate news of the stay
Supporters of Melissa Lucio who had gathered at the state Capitol on Monday to push for her death sentence to be halted were seen celebrating news that she had been granted a stay of execution.
The group, dressed in t-shirts reading “Free Melissa Lucio”, welcomed the decision by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas to stop her execution and order a lower court to review the new evidence in the case.
Republican lawmaker reveals moment Melissa Lucio learned her life was saved
A Republican state lawmaker has spoken out about the moment Melissa Lucio learned her life was to be saved.
State Rep Jeff Leach told The Texas Tribune he told Lucio over the phone that the Texas appeals court had granted her a stay of execution.
The mother-of-14 was overcome with emotion and laughed through tears, he said.
“Are you serious?” she asked. “That is wonderful... Oh thank you, God.”
Rep Leach has become one of the most vocal supporters of Lucio in recent weeks and – in partnership with Democratic Rep Joe Moody – has led a bipartisan group of 83 state representatives in calls to stop her execution.
Last week, Rep Leach spoke out about the case saying that even “pro-life conservatives” who are in favour of the death penalty and believe capital punishment is “a God-ordained institution” must recognise the state has “royally messed it up” in Lucio’s case.
Earlier this month, seven of the lawmakers visited Lucio on death row at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville and prayed with her.
A bipartisan group of 20 members of the Texas Senate also publicly opposed Lucio’s execution.
The bipartisan group of lawmakers even includes members who are proponents of the death penalty.
Texas parole board declines to grant Melissa Lucio clemency after stay of execution granted
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has declined to grant Melissa Lucio clemency after the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas issued a stay of execution.
The parole board released a brief, one-line statement on Monday afternoon announcing its decision.
“Based on a stay of execution issued by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas on April 25, 2022 the Board of Pardons and Paroles will not be making a clemency recommendation at this time,” the statement read.
The statement did not provide any other details about the decision.
It is not clear if the outcome would have been different had a stay not been issued.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had until 1.30pm local time on Monday to recommend whether Lucio’s death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment, if she should be granted a 120-day execution reprieve or if the execution should go ahead as planned.
The recommendations would have been sent to Republican Governor Greg Abbott who would then have the power to decide whether or not to act on them.
Nun who wrote Dead Man Walking welcomes stay of execution
The Catholic nun who wrote the iconic book Dead Man Walking has welcomed the news that Melissa Lucio has been granted a stay of execution after she previously voiced her support for the Texan mother-of-14.
Sister Helen Prejean told her 174,000 followers on Twitter that Lucio’s case was headed back to the trial court, celebrating with an “alleluia”.
“NEWS: Melissa Lucio was granted a stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,” she tweeted.
“The April 27th execution date is canceled and Melissa’s case will be sent back to the Cameron County trial court for consideration of four claims. Alleluia!”
Sister Helen joined calls to halt Lucio’s execution earlier this month saying that “psychological pressure and coercion” led the grieving mother. to “admit to things that never happened”
On 6 April, Sister Helen shared an op-ed written by false confession expert Gisli H. Gudjonsson for The Independent about Lucio’s case.
She wrote: “Melissa Lucio was interrogated by investigators trained to extract confessions, not to find the truth.
“When psychological pressure and coercion are applied with clinical precision, people buckle and admit to things that never happened.”
On April 11, Sister Helen shared more details of Lucio’s case with her followers describing the “tragic accident” that led to her daughter’s death and the “five hours of coercion” that caused her to make a “false confession”.
“Melissa Lucio’s daughter, Mariah, died in a tragic accident. Within hours, police took Melissa into a small room. They yelled at her, threatened her, and showed her photos of Mariah’s body. After five hours of coercion, Melissa made a false confession,” she tweeted.
“Detectives shouted at Melissa, berated her for being a neglectful mother, and implied that if Mariah’s death was not her fault then it had to have been one of her other children. They promised to help her and said they would let her attend Mariah’s funeral if she confessed.
“The purpose of the interrogation was not to get to the truth. The investigators were only interested in using psychological pressure and manipulation to obtain evidence that supported their pre-conceived theories. This type of tunnel vision is very dangerous in criminal cases.”
Sister Helen famously penned the 1994 book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States after becoming the spiritual advisor to two men on death row - Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie - in the 1980s. She witnessed the executions of both men.
Following their deaths - and at a time when national support for the death penalty was at an all-time high - the Catholic nun released her book, sparking a nationwide debate about capital punishment.
The book famously inspired a Hollywood movie of the same name starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.
Over the last few decades, Sister Helen has campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty and pushed the Catholic Church to condemn the death penalty in all circumstances.
Full story: Melissa Lucio is granted stay of execution by appeals court
Melissa Lucio has been granted an 11th-hour stay of execution, just 48 hours before she was about to be put to death for a crime she says she didn’t commit.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution early on Monday afternoon and ordered the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron Country to consider new evidence in her case after multiple experts cast doubt on her 2008 conviction and calls to save her mounted from human rights advocates, celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Amanda Knox, and both Republican and Democratic state lawmakers.
Lucio, who has spent the last 14 years on death row for the 2007 murder of her daughter Mariah, thanked God for saving her life and paid tribute to her late child who she said “is in my heart today and always”.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Melissa Lucio is granted 11th-hour stay of execution by Texas appeals court
‘I thank God for my life. I have always trusted in Him. I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence,’ Melissa Lucio said in a statement following the appeals court’s ruling
Kim Kardashian celebrates execution stay: ‘Best news ever!'
Kim Kardashian has celebrated the decision to temporarily call off the imminent execution of Melissa Lucio, telling her 7.2m followers it is the “best news ever”.
Kardashian spoke out earlier this month in support of Lucio and raising awareness of the “unresolved questions” surrounding her conviction and death sentence.
On Monday, she welcomed news that she had been granted a last-minute stay of execution by the Texas appeals court.
“Best news ever! Melissa Lucio has been on death row for over 14 years for her daughter’s death that was a tragic accident,” she tweeted.
“She is getting a new trial on her case and has been granted a stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.”
The Independent’s Josh Marcus has the full story:
Kim Kardashian says Melissa Lucio execution delay is ‘best news ever’
Reality star helped raise profile of case
Texas appeals court agrees with four claims as to why Melissa Lucio’s case must be reviewed
The Texas appeals court agreed with Melissa Lucio’s legal team on four claims made in the habeas application.
In the order granting Lucio a stay of execution, the appeals court said four of the nine claims raised in the application should be reviewed by the courts.
These claims are: “for the State’s use of false testimony, no juror would have convicted her; “previously unavailable scientific evidence would preclude her conviction”; “she is actually innocent”; and that “the State suppressed favorable, material evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland”.
Lucio’s legal team had filed a 242-page application asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to grant a stay of execution back on 15 April.