TEXAS — Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio’s lawyers have filed a clemency petition ahead of her scheduled execution in April to provide evidence that she was wrongfully convicted, according to NBC News. NBC News also says that four jurors are now questioning their guilty finding.
Lucio is the only Latina on death row in Texas and was sentenced to death for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter in 2007. Prosecutors found that Lucio was physically abusive toward her child and at the time of her death. The 2-year-old had bruises and signs of head injury when she was brought into the hospital more than 14 years ago and later died.
According to Lucio’s legal team, her 2-year-old daughter had a mild disability and was prone to falling. When she had fallen down the stairs, her mom did not think it was serious until she fell unconscious two days later and was brought to the hospital where she died.
Fifty-three-year-old Lucio is sentenced to die by lethal injection on April 27. The clemency petition is asking for a lesser sentence rather than a full pardon. It is asking for at least a 120-day reprieve from her execution as Lucio seeks retrial, according to NBC News.
There have been previous attempts to spare Lucio’s life. Her lawyers had filed to have her execution date withdrawn earlier in February. She was the subject of a 2020 documentary film that attempted to cast doubt on her guilt called “The State of Texas vs. Melissa.”
Her most recent clemency petition filed Tuesday states that after consultation with experts, it was concluded that Lucio was convicted on an unreliable confession and unscientific and false evidence. The petition states the condition that the then-pregnant Lucio was in at the time of interrogation could have increased the risk that she would have had to falsely incriminate herself.
Lucio is one of six women on death row in Texas.