GATESVILLE, Texas — Melissa Lucio remains on death row in Cameron County nearly four years after her scheduled execution was halted and nearly two years after the state district judge who sentenced her signed a motion to vacate her conviction, according to an article by Xavier Alvarez for myRVG.com.
Lucio was originally convicted in July 2008 in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. According to the article, she was scheduled for lethal injection on April 22, 2022, and was granted a stay of execution on April 20 of that year.
Mariah Alvarez allegedly sustained fatal head injuries after falling down a flight of stairs on Feb. 17, 2007, according to the article. Lucio’s friends, family and supporters have maintained her innocence, organizing the #FreeMelissaLucio campaign with Death Penalty Action Executive Director Abraham Bonowitz.
Along with the temporary halt to the execution, Alvarez writes that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered an evidentiary hearing to examine claims, corroborated by Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz, that exonerating evidence had been withheld at trial.
An investigation revealed that former Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos withheld favorable evidence, including reports from interviews with Lucio’s other children. Harlingen police and Child Protective Services supported that finding, according to Alvarez.
“We just want to see my mother free,” Melissa’s son John Lucio said in a statement. “She should never have been convicted. She should never have faced execution. And I can’t believe it is four years later and we’re all still waiting.”
According to Alvarez, Villalobos was sentenced in 2014 to 13 years in federal prison for soliciting and accepting “over $100,000 in bribes and kickbacks in return for favorable acts of prosecutorial discretion,” casting further doubt on the validity of Lucio’s original conviction.
The call for Lucio’s freedom has inspired many supporters to rally behind the Harlingen mother, Alvarez writes. Filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel created a documentary titled “The State of Texas vs. Melissa,” which includes footage of police interrogations in which officials prompted “a sleep-deprived Lucio into spanking a doll” after intense questioning.
Alvarez writes that during the hourslong interrogation, Lucio “made statements that were taken to suggest she felt responsible for her daughter’s death.”
The campaign also drew the attention of Arizona attorney Sandra Jonas, who has maintained a pen-pal relationship with Lucio following her conviction and imprisonment. According to the article, Jonas said she was moved by Lucio’s strength in the face of her sentence.
In an interview with The Brownsville Herald, Jonas said she asked Lucio how she would respond if she were granted clemency or executed, according to Alvarez.
“[S]he said, ‘I’m getting freedom either way,’” Jonas said. “‘I’m either getting freedom to go home to my family, freedom to go to life without parole and be there for my family, or freedom to go home to heaven.’”
In April 2022, attorneys for Lucio and Saenz proposed a motion to vacate Lucio’s conviction, calling for her release and removal from death row. According to the article, the motion was signed by the same judge who originally sentenced Lucio to death and who has since publicly endorsed her innocence.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where the motion was sent, has not ruled on the matter.
“Four years ago on Saturday, Melissa Lucio was two days from execution,” Bonowitz said in a statement. “She is innocent. There was no crime. Why is Melissa Lucio still on Texas death row? There is no acceptable answer.”
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