Lawyers hope new evidence can stop Texas woman’s execution – By Juan A Lozano (Associated Press) / April 3, 2022
During hours of relentless questioning, Harlingen resident Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter
HOUSTON (AP) — During hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter.
But worn down from a lifetime of abuse and the grief of losing her daughter Mariah, her lawyers say, the Texas woman finally acquiesced to investigators. “I guess I did it,” Lucio responded when asked if she was responsible for some of Mariah’s injuries.
Her lawyers say that statement was wrongly interpreted by prosecutors as a murder confession — tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariah’s 2007 death, with evidence gathered only to prove that conclusion, and helping lead to her capital murder conviction. They contend Mariah died from injuries from a fall down the 14 steps of a steep staircase outside the family’s apartment in the South Texas city of Harlingen.
