The death of a beloved two-year-old daughter after a simple accident sounds like a nightmare most parents would wake up from in a cold sweat. For one mother, this nightmare didn’t end in the morning—and instead only got worse.
In 2008, Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death for the murder of her youngest child, Mariah. The toddler took a nap and failed to wake up two days after falling down the stairs while the family was moving houses. During a brutal interrogation, mere hours after the death, an exhausted and emotional Lucio gave in to the pressure of the police officers accusing her of pushing Mariah down the stairs. After denying over 80 assertions that she had harmed Mariah, she finally stated, “I guess I did it.” This was then used in court as a confession of homicide. With the exception of this one statement, Lucio has maintained her innocence for the past 14 years.
Her trial was filled with similar injustices. Testimony stating the suspicious body language she displayed during the interrogation was evidence of guilt was allowed, but not her history of experiencing sexual abuse and domestic violence, despite it being an explanation for the body language. Additionally, the district attorney at the time, Armando Villalobos, was seeking reelection. He had previously been criticized for doing too little when dealing with previous allegations of child abuse. By pursing the death penalty, Lucio’s case could be used as an example to make Villalobos appear tough on crime and help him to win reelection.
Lucio’s situation is an unfortunate mirror of many other cases involving coerced confessions. Parallels can be drawn to the Central Park Five, in which a group of innocent teenage boys were interrogated until they confessed to a brutal rape they had not commmitted. The boys spent between 6 and 13 years in prison as a result of the police bullying them while they were scared and tired and willing to do anything, including admit to a crime they didn’t commit, to go home.
Coerced confessions are a major issue—they were involved in 29% of cases where people ended up being exonerated as a result of new DNA evidence. Juveniles, such as the Central Park Five, people with mental illness, such as Melissa Lucio, and people with cognitive or mental disabilities are particularly likely to falsely confess to a crime.
While the Central Park Five were eventually freed following the confession of the actual perpetrator of the crime, Matias Reyes, that won’t happen with Melissa. There is no actual perpetrator of the crime to step up when no crime ever occurred, merely a tragic accident.
Lucio is scheduled to be executed April 27th. There is widespread support for her: a bipartisan group of 83 Texas House representatives has sent a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Greg Abbott asking to grant an execution reprieve or commute her sentence, a documentary (“Melissa vs. The State of Texas”) has been made explaining the faults with her conviction, her story was featured on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and even Kim Kardashian has spoken out against her execution.
Texas is planning to execute an innocent woman in just a few weeks. To help prevent this, anyone can help by signing this petition from the Innocence Project. Texans can call Gov. Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole at 956-446-2866, asking to grant a reprieve or commute the sentence. Additionally, they can call the Cameron County District Attorney at 956-300-3881 requesting to withdraw Ms. Lucio’s execution date. Those who aren’t from the state can ask friends and family who are to call, or share this information on social media with the hashtag #SaveMelissaLucio.
References
Davila, G. (2022, February 18). Protests organized across Texas in attempt to overturn death sentence for Melissa Lucio. Texas Public Radio. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.tpr.org/criminal-justice/2022-02-18/protests-organized-across-texas-in-attempt-to-overturn-death-sentence-for-melissa-lucio
Harris, A. (2019, May 30). The Central Park Five: 'We Were Just Baby Boys'. The New York
Times. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/arts/television/when-they-see-us.html
Innocence Staff. (2022, March 17). Five Ways to Help Melissa Lucio, Innocent Woman Set to Be Executed on April 27 in Texas. Innocence Project. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://innocenceproject.org/ways-to-help-melissa-lucio-innocent-woman-executed-april-27-texas/
Innocence Staff. (2022, March 25). Melissa Lucio: 9 facts you should know about this innocent woman facing execution. Innocence Project. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://innocenceproject.org/melissa-lucio-9-facts-innocent-woman-facing-execution/
Innocence Staff. (n.d.). DNA Exonerations in the United States. Innocence Project. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://innocenceproject.org/dna-exonerations-in-the-united-states/
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