The pending execution of a woman who claims she was wrongly convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2007 has been thrown back into legal limbo.
An earlier trial judge’s finding that Melissa Lucio did not fatally abuse her daughter has been overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The same appeals court halted the woman’s 2022 execution and ordered her case to be closely reviewed by Texas District Judge Arturo Nelson, who had presided over her trial.
Melissa Lucio
In April 2024, Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz disclosed that his predecessor had withheld evidence from the 2008 trial showing injuries to Lucia’s daughter, Mariah, were consistent with a fall instead of the alleged abuse. A week later, Nelson released his finding that Lucio, 58, “is actually innocent” and has “met her burden of proof, by a preponderance of the evidence, that she would not have been convicted in light of the suppressed evidence.”
Therefore, Nelson wrote, the “court concludes that applicant is entitled to habeas corpus relief from her conviction and sentence in this cause under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.”
But in its 5-4 decision handed down Sept. 24, the state criminal appeals court rejected Nelson’s conclusion in part because he had given too much weight to Lucio’s memory of events: “We decline to adopt any of the habeas court’s findings and conclusions, which exclusively reflect applicant’s interpretation of the evidence and are often unsupported. Instead, we take on our role as the ultimate factfinder in habeas cases and dispose of applicant’s remanded allegations based upon our independent review of the record.”
Lucio also failed to demonstrate that new evidence introduced since her trial, including evidence withheld by prosecutors, would have resulted in an acquittal, the appellate ruling added. “She has also failed to demonstrate that this evidence was material to guilt or punishment, in that there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed, the outcome of trial would have been different.”
But Nelson was in a much better position to determine the veracity of the facts and any new evidence — including those disclosed by prosecutors — provided since her trial, Judge Lee Finley wrote in his dissent.
“On balance, the court should weigh Judge Nelson’s personal experience with applicant’s case heavily. But the court does not weigh Judge Nelson’s recommendation heavily; it does not weigh his recommendation at all. In fact, the court disregards Judge Nelson’s recommendation entirely.”
Lucio’s legal team said it will take the case to the federal level to ensure an innocent person is not executed for a crime that never occurred.
“Between Judge Nelson’s detailed findings of innocence and District Attorney Saenz’s concession of error, we are confident the courts will clear Melissa Lucio and allow her to return home to her children and grandchildren. Justice will be done,” said Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project.
Laura Porter, executive director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said she was baffled by the appeals court ruling.
“It is hard to understand how a court could reject the fact-finding of the trial court that she was actually innocent and reject the prosecutor’s acknowledgment that important information was withheld by the prosecutor’s office. There is no stronger case that a death penalty process run by human beings is fallible.”