Why Is Melissa Lucio An Innocent Or Guilty

From: Michelle Cruz Calderilla

To: Ms.Wagner

Date: June 10, 2023

Reference: Melissa Lucio's innocent or guilty

Introduction On February 17, 2007, paramedics were called to Ms.Lucio's residence regarding her daughter Mariah being unresponsive and not breathing. Mariah was then taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead Mariah was found to have bruising around her body which was all in different stages of the healing process, she also had injuries to her head and contusions of the lung, spinal cord, and kidney. Ms.Lucio and her attorneys claimed that all injuries that Mariah had were from falling down the stairs two days earlier and that is what caused her death. However, the prosecutors state that Mariah’s

Ms.Lucio was interrogated without a lawyer present and without receiving food or water. Ms.Lucio was even more vulnerable due to her being pregnant with twins at the time. Ms.Lucio admitted that she had spanked Mariah before but stated and repeated more than 100 times that she had never abused Mariah before. Mr.Escalon told Ms.Lucio that “Right now, it looks like you’re a cold-blooded killer. Now were you a cold-blooded killer or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on Mariah?” then Mr.Escalon told Ms.Lucio “We already know what happened”. After several tireless hours of integration Ms.Lucio stated, “I guess I did it. I'm responsible.” One of Ms.Lucios' sons was integrated as well when he was asked “Did you see your sister fall down the stairs or did someone tell you that she fell?” Ms.Lucio’s son then stated, “ No, I saw her

Forensic pathologist Dr.Thomas Young reviewed Ms.Lucio’s case at the request of her post-conviction attorney. Dr.Young concluded that Dr.Farley appeared to jump to the wrong conclusion. Dr.Farley had worked on Manuel Velez’s Case ( similar case), a man who was first convicted of murdering a one-year-old baby, and his death sentence was overturned after another investigation was done. Dr.Farley’s conclusion had also been contradicted by other medical experts. In April 2022, a juror on the trial, Johnny Galvan Jr. wrote in the Houston Chronicle that he had wrongly succumbed to peer pressure. It was brought to attention that authorities had used coercive methods to produce a false confession from Ms.Lucio. It has shown that people who have survived sexual abuse and violence, as Ms.Lucio has from her stepfather when she was younger, are even more vulnerable to confessing under such coercive conditions. A very important and key factor that was not investigated by the authorities was Mariah’s health history. Mariah had a lengthy history of being prone to tripping which was due to her having a physical disability that made it difficult for her to walk at times. The new evidence that was gathered provided Ms.Lucio to be granted a stay of execution on April 25, 2022. The stay of execution was ordered by the Texas Court pd Appeals and ordered the 138th Judicial District