During hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter.
“Lucio still advances no evidence that is reliable and supportive of her acquittal,” the office wrote in court documents last month.Lucio, 53, would be the first Latina executed by Texas and the first woman since 2014. Only 17 women have been executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on the death penalty in 1976, most recently in January 2021.
Lucio had been sexually assaulted multiple times, starting at age 6, and had been physically and emotionally abused by two husbands. Her lawyers say this lifelong trauma made her susceptible to giving a false confession. Three jurors and one alternate in Lucio’s trial have signed affidavits expressing doubts about her conviction.
“As a conservative Republican myself, who has long been a supporter of the death penalty in the most heinous cases ... I have never seen a more troubling case than the case of Melissa Lucio,” said state Rep. Jeff Leach, who signed the letter.
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Lawyers hope new evidence can stop Texas woman's executionHOUSTON (AP) — During hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter. But worn down from a lifetime of abuse and the grief of losing her daughter Mariah, her lawyers say, the Texas woman finally acquiesced to investigators.
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Lawyers Hope New Evidence Can Stop Texas Woman’s ExecutionDuring hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter.
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Lawyers hope new evidence can stop Texas woman's executionLawyers for a Texas woman who's denied she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter are hopeful new evidence will stop her execution.
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