Photo: Jorge Fuentelsaz / EFE
For: Real America News Updated 25 Apr 2022, 14: 43 pm EDT
A Texas appeals court stopped the execution of Melissa Lucio, a woman from 43 years sentenced for the death of her two-year-old daughter in 2007.
The woman’s execution was scheduled for 27 April, accused of murdering her daughter Mariah, after the police determined that he had lied in the case.
However, Lucio later confessed that She was pressured to plead guilty, which has even led the jury that sentenced her at the time to ask for a new trial.
The suspension of the court would allow the case to be reviewed again, which has had national relevancel, after the intervention of celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, who has asked to stop the execution of the Hispanic woman.
The Texas Parole Board will meet to make a decision, but Governor Greg Abbott has not commented on it.
Mrs. Lucio’s son has said that they would execute an “innocent woman” if they killed his mother for the death of her sister.
Innocence Project attorneys have been defending the woman and filed a clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles .
The Board must make a recommendation to Governor Abbott and if positive, the lawyers would have time to present the case again in court.
Lucio would be the first woman executed in the state since 2014.
The woman had said that her daughter Mariah died from injuries sustained during a fall down some stairs, pe she ro she then confessed to hurting her. However, the defense asked the judge at that time to allow the evaluation of a psychologist, which was denied.
Lucio’s lawyers affirm that new evidence shows that Mariah’s injuries, including a blow to the head, were caused by a fall down a ladder.
Lucio’s family has called for his execution to be stopped, including his mother, who told CBS News that the prosecutor had “his own children” and would not want this to happen to them.
Also Democratic and Republican representatives have asked for clemency for Lucio, including Republican Jeff Leach and Democrat Joe Moody, both of the state House.