Melissa Lucio

Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (born June 18, 1969) is the first woman of Hispanic descent to be sentenced to death in the U.S. state of Texas.

She was convicted of capital murder after the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, who was found to have scattered bruising in various stages of healing, as well as injuries to her head and contusions of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord.

Prosecutors said that Mariah's injuries were the result of physical abuse, while Lucio's attorneys say that her death was caused by a fall down the stairs two days prior.

Melissa Lucio was born in Lubbock, Texas, on June 18, 1969, according to court records.

Her father died when she was an infant, and the family moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where her mother had grown up, when she was a toddler.

Lucio says she was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend for about two years, beginning when she was seven years old.

Lucio was married at the age of 16 and had her first five children with Guadalupe Lucio.

She stated that he was often addicted to drugs and alcohol and was physically abusive.

Lucio then had seven children with Robert Alvarez.

Two more children (twins) were born while she was imprisoned.

Mariah Alvarez was born to Melissa Lucio and Robert Alvarez in September 2004.

Mariah was Lucio's twelfth child.

Child Protective Services had previously investigated Lucio for allegations of child neglect, and they reported that Lucio's youngest children were often left in the care of their teenaged siblings.

Lucio was addicted to cocaine and tested positive shortly after Mariah was born; this prompted authorities to place her children in foster care.

Three older children went to live in Houston with their father, and Lucio regained custody of the others in late 2006.

On February 17, 2007, paramedics were called to the Lucio residence because two-year-old Mariah was unresponsive and not breathing.

According to the Cameron County District Attorney's Office, Mariah was found at the home with signs of abuse on her body, including marks on her back, missing patches of hair, and a fracture in her arm.

According to Lucio, Mariah had sustained the injuries when she fell down a flight of stairs two days earlier.

It was later determined that Mariah's arm had been broken two to seven weeks before her death, and an autopsy also showed a head injury and bruising of the kidneys, lungs and spinal cord.

The child was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Following Mariah's death, Lucio was arrested and questioned for seven hours by Texas Ranger Victor Escalon without a lawyer present, and without receiving food or water.

She admitted to having spanked Mariah, but denied ever having abused her, which she repeated more than 100 times.

She was then told by Escalon: "Right now, it looks like you're a cold-blooded killer. Now, are you a cold-blooded killer or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on [Mariah]?"

He continued by telling her, "We already know what happened".

After several hours of interrogation, Lucio stated, "I guess I did it. I'm responsible."

One of Lucio's sons was also questioned by law enforcement shortly after Mariah's death.

In a video, a female officer asks the boy: "Did you see your sister fall down the stairs or did somebody tell you that she fell?"

The boy then responded: "No, I saw her fall."

During the trial, Lucio's recorded statements from her interrogation were described as a confession by Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, who was seeking re-election at the time.

A pathologist, Dr. Norma J. Farley, testified that the child’s autopsy indicated that she did not die from falling down stairs, and instead her injuries were consistent with a death from blunt force trauma.

Additionally, court documents state that the emergency room physician said he had not seen a case of child abuse worse than Mariah's.

Lucio’s defense argued that Mariah's injuries were from falling down the stairs, and that Lucio's psychological functioning contributed to her conflicting reports given to authorities.

Despite the defense's arguments, Lucio was found guilty of capital murder and later sentenced to death in 2008.

Lucio was pregnant with twins at the time of Mariah's death, and authorities compelled her to place them for adoption after delivering them while in jail.

As of 2022, Lucio is being held on death row at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.

A 2011 appeal against the conviction was denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

In 2019, a three-judge panel of the Federal Appeals Court overturned the sentence and ordered a retrial because of the trial court's interference in Lucio's right to present a defense.

Lucio's case was the subject of a 2020 documentary, The State of Texas vs. Melissa.

She has maintained her innocence, and Cornell Law School professor Sandra Babcock has called the prosecution "by far the weakest capital case I've ever seen".

Lucio's execution was set for April 27, 2022, but an appeals court granted her a stay on April 25, 2022.