Thursday, March 28

Melissa Lucio execution latest: 83 Texas lawmakers say death row sentence ‘miscarriage of justice’


Efforts underway to commute, delay mother’s scheduled execution

There are growing calls on Texas Governor Greg Abbot to grant her clemency to Melissa Lucio who faces execution later this month.

The 53-year-old domestic violence victim and mother of 14 has been on death row since her trial over the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter.

Her lawyers argue she “falsely” admitted to killing Mariah after hours of intense police questioning and that she died from falling down a steep staircase outside their apartment in Harlingen, South Texas, and not from being beaten.

Lucio was worn down by her grief and being abused throughout her life during the aggressive interrogation and finally admitted to a crime she didn’t commit, her lawyers say.

On 18 October, the US Supreme Court denied a petition to hear Lucio’s case, paving the way for the state of Texas to set the date for her execution — to be carried out by lethal injection on 27 Aprill

In a bipartisan letter to Governor Abbott, 83 Texas House members called the case “a miscarriage of justice.” Kim Kardashian, who has campaigned in several high-profile death row cases, also joined calls for clemency.

Most compellingly, in an editorial in The Houston Chronicle on 3 April, Johnny Galvan Jr, a juror at her trial wrote that he was misled about the facts of the case and succumbed to “peer pressure” in changing his sentencing vote from life in prison to the death penalty. He now says he was wrong to do so.

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Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 20:00

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Juror says he was wrong to succumb to peer pressure over death penalty

One of the jurors who sentenced Melissa Lucio to death has written a newspaper editorial claiming he was misled and pressured during the mother’s trial for murdering her two-year-old daughter.

Johnny Galvan Jr wrote in The Houston Chronicle that he was wrong to succumb to “peer pressure” and change his vote from a life sentence to the death penalty, or they’d “be there all day” if he didn’t.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 18:30

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Background to Melissa Lucio’s death sentence

Melissa Lucio was sentenced to death in 2008 after being convicted of killing her two-year-old daughter Mariah the year before. Her lawyers de ella argue a confession was given under duress and she says herself that she did not do it, and she has aksed Governor Greg Abbott for clemency with her execution date de ella less than a month away.

Rachel Sharp reports on the case for The Independent.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 17:00

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Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 15:30

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Revisiting the Julius Jones case

In November 2021, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt called off the execution of Julius Jones, a Black death row inmate who has long maintained his innocence in the 1999 murder that put him behind bars. The announcement came just hours before Jones was set to die by lethal injection.

“After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” Governor Stitt said in a statement.

The Jones family, as well as supporters of the large “Justice for Julius” movement, were at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in the town of McAlester when they learned the news, the culmination of a two-decade campaign to free Julius.

Josh Marcus reported on the case for The Independent.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 14:00

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Lifelong trauma led to false confession

Lucio, 53, would be the first Latina executed by Texas and the first woman since 2014. Only 17 women have been executed in the US since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on the death penalty in 1976, most recently in January 2021.

In their clemency petition, Lucio’s lawyers say that while she had used drugs, leading her to temporarily lose custody of her children, she was a loving mother who worked to remain drug-free and provide for her family. Lucio has 14 children and was pregnant with the youngest two when Mariah died.

(Provided by the family of Melissa Lucio)

Lucio and her children struggled through poverty. At times, they were homeless and relied on food banks for meals, according to the petition. Child Protective Services was present in her family’s life, but there was never an accusation of abuse by any of her children, according to Vanessa Potkin, one of Lucio’s attorneys who is with the Innocence Project.

Lucio had been sexually assaulted multiple times, starting at age six, and had been physically and emotionally abused by two husbands. Her lawyers say this lifelong trauma made her susceptible to giving a false confession.

In the 2020 documentary The State of Texas vs. MelissaLucio said investigators kept pushing her to say she had hurt Mariah.

“I was not gonna admit to causing her death because I wasn’t responsible,” Lucio said.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 12:30

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‘Wake up… to speak out for justice and stand up for life!’

Texas representative Jeff Leach calls on faith leaders to speak out for Melissa Lucio as the bipartisan group of lawmakers calls for action on the case urging the state to grant a reprieve from execution because of all of the evidence that points to her innocence.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 11:00

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What have Texas lawmakers said?

On 25 March, 83 Texas House members signed a letter asking the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to either cancel or commute Lucio’s impending execution.

Representative Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who describes himself as a conservative Republican and a death penalty supporter, led off a news conference calling the trial of Lucio a miscarriage of justice, Spectrum News 1 reports.

“I have never seen a more troublesome case than the case of Melissa Lucio,” said Mr Leach, the chair of the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee. “The six of us, in conjunction with our House colleagues, are asking for the Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare her life de ella and delay her execution de ella, which is currently scheduled in about a month on April 27.”

Mr Leach was joined by Representatives Joe Moody, D-El Paso; Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston; Lacey Hull, R-Houston; Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas; and James White, R-Hillister.

“Typically, Republicans have been hesitant or reluctant to talk about the question of the integrity of the death penalty, and I think that’s the wrong approach. I know it’s the wrong approach,” Mr Leach said. “I encourage legislators to ask the tough questions and to review the documents, the transcripts, the case file, to call us or call her attorneys, and to figure out where you are on this case, one way or another.”

His colleague Mr Moody, added: “It is easy to dismiss people like Melissa Lucio. In fact, the system is set up for us to forget her and treat her as less than human. That’s the way it’s been set up for years and years. For years, in this body, it was easy to ignore issues that touch the justice system because we think of those people as less than human and we throw them away. Do not more.”

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 09:30

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What options are available for Texas authorities?

Texas Governor Greg Abbott

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Governor Greg Abbott can grant a one-time, 30-day reprieve. He can grant clemency if a majority of the paroles board recommends it.

The board plans to vote on Lucio’s clemency petition two days before the scheduled execution, Rachel Alderete, the board’s director of support operations, said in an email to the Associated Press. A spokesperson for Governor Abbott’s office did not return an email seeking comment.

Mr Abbott has granted clemency to only one death row inmate, Thomas Whitaker, since taking office in 2015. Whitaker was convicted of masterminding the fatal shootings of his mother and brother. His father, who survived, led the effort to save Whitaker, saying he would be victimized again if his son was executed.

Lucio’s supporters have said her clemency request is similar in that her family would be retraumatized if she’s executed.

“Please allow us to reconcile with Mariah’s death and remember her without fresh pain, anguish, and grief. Please spare the life of our mother,” Lucio’s children wrote in a letter to Governor Abbott and the board.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 08:00

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Which US states still have capital punishment, and who uses it the most?

Twenty-seven states across America still have the death penalty.

They are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky. Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 06:00




www.independent.co.uk

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