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Melissa Lucio case: Girl's death was accident, not murder, judge says


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A Texas mother who narrowly avoided a scheduled execution over two years ago is "actually innocent" in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, said a judge who is recommending her conviction and death sentence be vacated.

Melissa Lucio, now 56, was convicted of murdering her daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Mariah died in February 2007, and prosecutors argued that severe physical abuse by Lucio caused her death. Lucio has maintained her innocence, as her lawyers and advocates say Mariah's death and the injuries found on her body were caused by an accidental fall down the stairs.

"Applicant is actually innocent; she did not kill her daughter," wrote Arturo Nelson, who presided over the original murder trial. The judge's filing was signed in October but only made public this week.

The case must next be considered by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will decide whether Lucio's conviction and sentence should be overturned.

"This is the best news we could get going into the holidays,” John Lucio and Michelle Lucio, Melissa Lucio's son and daughter-in-law, said in a statement.

"We pray our mother will be home soon," said John and Michelle Lucio along with Bobby Alvarez, another of Melissa Lucio's sons.

Nelson wrote that evidence that could have helped prove Mariah's injuries were related to the fall down the stairs was improperly withheld from the defense team by prosecutors. The fall allegedly happened a couple of days before Mariah became unresponsive and ultimately was declared dead at a hospital.

That evidence included interviews with Lucio's other children, who told investigators that their mother was not abusive and confirmed that Mariah had fallen down the stairs. Some of the children's accounts also corroborated the defense's claim that Mariah's health deteriorated after the fall down the stairs.

Nelson also found that damning testimony given by the state's medical examiner at the murder trial, which concluded that there was no possible cause for Mariah's injuries other than abuse, was incorrect.

"(T)his Court finds that Applicant has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder...," Nelson wrote. "(T)his Court concludes there is clear and convincing evidence that no rational juror could convict Applicant of capital murder or any lesser included offense."

Vanessa Potkin, the director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio's attorneys, said Lucio "lived every parent's nightmare" when Mariah died after an accident.

“It became a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake up when she was sent to death row for a crime that never happened. After 16 years on death row, it’s time for the nightmare to end. Melissa should be home right now with her children and grandchildren,” Potkin said.