Texas appeals court rejects ruling of innocence for woman on death row for 18 years

Texas Department of Criminal Justice/AP/File

A Texas court on Thursday rejected a ruling that a woman on death row for 18 years is innocent of capital murder in the killing of her 2-year-old daughter in a case that attracted bipartisan calls from lawmakers and celebrities to release her from prison.

The sharply divided decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals leaves Melissa Lucio on Texas’ death row, where she narrowly escaped execution in 2022 when the same court ordered a review of her case two days before her scheduled lethal injection. Lucio’s attorneys said Thursday they will now appeal her case to federal courts.

Lucio, 58, was convicted of capital murder in the death of her daughter, Mariah, after the child sustained severe head trauma that prosecutors said came from abuse.

Efforts to get Lucio’s conviction overturned focused on claims that the child wasn’t beaten but was injured in an accidental fall down a steep staircase two days before she died. They were bolstered when the appeals court ordered the trial court to review some of her claims. Her original trial judge then issued a 62-page ruling in 2024 that concluded Lucio was “actually innocent” of capital murder.

Prosecutors had long maintained Mariah was the victim of abuse and noted her body was covered in bruises. But the trial judge’s ruling on Lucio’s innocence also determined that prosecutors presented false testimony, suppressed evidence and that new scientific evidence that was not available during Lucio’s 2008 trial undermines and contradicts evidence presented by the state. Prosecutors had conceded during Lucio’s appeal that they had withheld material evidence in her trial.

But the majority opinion issued by the all-Republican appeals court on Thursday said the judge’s ruling relied too heavily on Lucio’s interpretation of events of the case and not the prosecution. The five-judge majority opinion was unsigned, and four judges dissented.

Many lawmakers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, an advocate for criminal justice reform, and Amanda Knox — an American whose murder conviction in the death of a British student in Italy was overturned — had rallied to Lucio’s cause.

Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said her legal team will appeal beyond state courts.

“We will proceed to federal court and do everything in our power to make sure Melissa …, an innocent mother who has suffered unbelievably, is not executed for a crime that never occurred,” Potkin said.

If exonerated, Lucio would be the first woman declared innocent from Texas death row, joining 18 exonerated men since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

If ultimately put to death, Lucio would be the first Latina executed by Texas since 1863, and the first woman the state has put to death since 2014 .

德克萨斯州刑事司法部/美联社/档案

德克萨斯州一家法院周四驳回了一项裁决，该裁决认定一名被判死刑 18 年的女子在杀害其 2 岁女儿的案件中无罪。此案曾引起两党议员和名人呼吁释放该女子。

德克萨斯州刑事上诉法院以微弱多数票通过的裁决，使得梅丽莎·卢西奥继续留在德克萨斯州的死囚牢房。她曾在2022年侥幸逃脱死刑，当时该法院在原定注射死刑的前两天下令复审她的案件。卢西奥的律师周四表示，他们将向联邦法院提起上诉。

58 岁的卢西奥因女儿玛丽亚的死亡而被判犯有谋杀罪，此前玛丽亚头部遭受严重创伤，检察官称这是虐待造成的。

推翻卢西奥定罪的努力主要集中在以下主张上：孩子并非遭到殴打，而是在去世前两天意外从陡峭的楼梯上摔下受伤。上诉法院责令初审法院审查她的一些主张，这为这些主张提供了支持。2024年，原审法官发布了一份长达62页的裁决，认定卢西奥“实际上无罪”，不构成谋杀罪。

检方一直坚称玛丽亚是虐待的受害者，并指出她身上布满瘀伤。但审判法官在裁定卢西奥无罪时也认定，检方提供了虚假证词，隐瞒了证据，而且在卢西奥2008年审判期间无法获得的新科学证据削弱并推翻了州政府提供的证据。在卢西奥的上诉期间，检方承认他们在审判中隐瞒了重要证据。

但周四由五名共和党法官组成的上诉法院发布的多数意见认为，法官的裁决过于依赖卢西奥对案件事件的解读，而非检方的证词。这份由五名法官组成的多数意见未署名，另有四名法官持反对意见。

许多立法者和名人，如刑事司法改革倡导者金·卡戴珊，以及因在意大利杀害一名英国学生而被定罪的美国人阿曼达·诺克斯（她的谋杀罪名被推翻），都声援了卢西奥的事业。

无罪项目特别诉讼主管、卢西奥的律师之一瓦妮莎·波特金表示，她的法律团队将向州法院以外的法院提起上诉。

“我们将向联邦法院提起诉讼，尽一切努力确保梅丽莎……这位遭受了难以置信的痛苦的无辜母亲不会因为从未发生的罪行而被处决，”波特金说。

如果卢西奥被宣告无罪，她将成为德克萨斯州死囚牢房中第一个被宣告无罪的女性，与自 1976 年恢复死刑以来被宣告无罪的 18 名男性一起，成为其中之一。

如果最终被处死，卢西奥将成为自 1863 年以来德克萨斯州处决的第一位拉丁裔女性，也是自 2014 年以来该州处决的第一位女性。