Mom on Demise Row ‘Truly Harmless’ in Daughter’s Demise, Choose Says

A Texas decide stated {that a} mom who has been on loss of life row since 2008 over the loss of life of her toddler is “really harmless,” with a call on her launch now within the fingers of Texas’s Courtroom of Felony Appeals.

Melissa Elizabeth Lucio has been on loss of life row for over a decade after being convicted of capital homicide within the February 2007 loss of life of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Lucio’s attorneys have argued that the woman’s loss of life and accidents had been attributable to an unintentional fall down a set of stairs.

Again in April, Senior Choose Arturo Nelson referred to as for Lucio’s conviction and loss of life sentence to be overturned in a 33-page courtroom doc obtained by PEOPLE on the time, arguing that proof was suppressed at her trial.

Now, Nelson — who oversaw the trial — is sharing in a brand new ruling, signed over two years after the mom’s execution was issued, that Lucio, 56, is “really harmless” and “didn’t kill her daughter.” The Oct. 16 doc was made public this week through the Innocence Venture, which has taken on Lucio’s case.

Lucio — who has been supported by advocates akin to Kim Kardashian — was initially slated for execution on April 27, 2022, however her case was dropped at a cease based mostly on an alleged suppression of fabric proof.

Following Nelson’s newest submitting, the Texas Courtroom of Felony Appeals will subsequent determine whether or not the mom’s conviction and sentence can be overturned.

“That is the most effective information we might get going into the vacations,” Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, John and Michelle Lucio, stated in a press release offered by the Innocence Venture.

“We pray our mom can be dwelling quickly,” they added.

Per Nelson’s ruling, there’s “clear and convincing proof that Mariah fell on some stairs two days earlier than she died, simply as Applicant advised police,” in addition to proof that “Mariah’s in depth bruising was not attributable to abuse however fairly a complication of her fall.”

Nelson additionally discovered that there was “clear and convincing proof” that the woman’s “deadly head harm” was attributable to the autumn.

Proof that would have proved that Mariah fell down the steps two days earlier than her loss of life was withheld, per the ruling, together with interviews with Lucio’s different youngsters who stated their sister fell down the steps and that their mom was not abusive. (As soon as piece of proof that was beforehand suppressed included a Youngster Protecting Providers report detailing interviews with 5 of Lucio’s youngsters.)

A few of the accounts from Lucio’s youngsters additionally stated that their sister had “declining well being” within the days between her fall and her loss of life.

“This Courtroom finds that, after a number of hours of police interrogation throughout which she initially insisted she was harmless and didn’t know the way her daughter died, Applicant finally advised officers that she had slapped, pinched, and bitten Mariah and agreed that she was ‘accountable’ for what occurred,” the submitting stated. “The Courtroom finds that Applicant by no means made an specific admission to inflicting her daughter’s loss of life. The Courtroom finds that Applicant’s admissions had been, nevertheless, relied on by the State at trial as important piece of proof establishing her guilt.”

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Nelson wrote final month that the courtroom discovered Lucio “has glad her burden and produced clear and convincing proof that she is definitely harmless of the offense of capital homicide,” explaining that the state’s medical expert on the homicide trial was incorrect in concluding that “bodily abuse was the one clarification” for the younger woman’s loss of life.

Vanessa Potkin, director of particular litigation on the Innocence Venture and an lawyer for Lucio, stated in a press release that her consumer “lived each father or mother’s nightmare when she misplaced her daughter after a tragic accident.”

She advised CNN that there’s “no timeframe inside which the [Criminal Court of Appeals] has to determine a case that’s submitted to them.”

“It turned a nightmare from which she couldn’t get up when she was despatched to loss of life row for a criminal offense that by no means occurred,” she added. “After 16 years on loss of life row, it’s time for the nightmare to finish. Melissa must be dwelling proper now along with her youngsters and grandchildren.”