The child
She died, according to the defense, of internal injuries she sustained two days after one
accidental fall
. Instead, prosecutors claim she was beaten.
An (inter)national case
– Melissa Lucio, 52, of Mexican descent, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on April 27 in Gatesville, Texas. The woman’s story has also become the subject of a documentary, The State of Texas v Melissa. There have also been many celebrities who have mobilized in his defense, including reality TV queen Kim Kardashian.
controversial interrogation
– Lucio’s lawyers have always said that the woman – in a vulnerable condition as she is pregnant with twins and suffering from shock and pain at the child’s death – was subjected to a very controversial method of interrogation. If he had denied the murder more than a hundred times, he would have said: “I’m probably responsible for it” – a sentence that could be interpreted in many ways anyway.
None of the other 13 children ever accused her
, and in fact everyone protests his innocence. “We don’t want our mother executed,” the eldest son, John, told CNN. “We have already lost our sister. And now to lose our mother in an accident is just awful.”
Lucio’s lawyers had asked for a pardon
to Gov. Greg Abbott, or at least a 120-day suspended sentence to review the evidence that would establish his innocence.