TEXAS — As the date nears, cries for Melissa Lucio’s execution to be halted are growing. Lucio is the only Hispanic woman on death row in Texas.

What You Need To Know

  • A group of 20 Texas state senators this week sent a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole calling for Melissa Lucio’s execution to be halted

  • Lucio is the only Hispanic woman on death row in Texas. She was convicted of capital murder for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah. Prosecutors say Mariah was the victim of child abuse and there is no evidence that would acquit Lucio of her daughter’s death

  • The letter says new evidence shows Mariah’s death was an accident and that Lucio is not responsible. The senators said her execution would “will not achieve justice for Mariah”

  • Lucio is scheduled to be executed on April 27

Earlier this week, 20 state senators, Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles stating that new evidence suggests her daughter was killed in an accident and that Lucio is not responsible.

“We, as members of the Texas Senate, urge you to recommend that Governor Abbott cancel Melissa Lucio’s execution by either commuting her sentence or granting her a reprieve. Ms. Lucio currently is scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on April 27, 2022,” the letter reads. “New evidence that has emerged since Ms. Lucio’s trial points to the fact that her daughter, Mariah, died after a tragic accident and not by her mother’s hands. A commutation or a reprieve would give her lawyers the time they need to develop all the evidence that could prove Ms. Lucio’s innocence.”

Lucio was convicted of capital murder for the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah. Prosecutors say Mariah was the victim of child abuse and there is no evidence that would acquit Lucio of her daughter’s death.

But Lucio’s lawyers say jurors never heard forensic evidence that would have explained Mariah’s various injuries were actually caused by a fall days before her death. They also say Lucio wasn’t allowed to present evidence questioning the validity of her confession, which they allege was not actually a confession and was given under duress after hours of relentless questioning.

Lucio is scheduled to be executed April 27.

“The death penalty is the ultimate punishment in Texas, and our state has an absolute obligation to ensure that it never executes an innocent person,” the letter continues. “With eyewitness accounts of Mariah’s accidental fall, and no eyewitness accounts that point to murder, Ms. Lucio’s case is one that gives even proponents of the death penalty pause. Doctors who recently reviewed the autopsy—including a leading specialist from The University of Texas Medical Branch—concluded that the jury heard false testimony about whether Mariah was abused.”

A group of Texas House members has doubts about Lucio’s guilt as well. Last month, they sent the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Greg Abbott a letter asking them to grant an execution reprieve or commute her sentence. 

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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.

“Accordingly, we submit that Ms. Lucio's execution will not achieve justice for Mariah. Instead, it will cause more suffering for her siblings, grandmother, father, aunts, and uncles, who lost Mariah 14 years ago and who are desperate not to lose another family member. A commutation, or at a minimum, a reprieve, would prevent further harm to a family that has experienced tremendous hardship already,” the letter from senators concludes.