Lower court’s findings on Melissa Lucio’s innocence struck down

Key Points:

• The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a lower court's finding that death row inmate Melissa Lucio is innocent of causing the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez, despite new evidence and claims of prosecutorial misconduct.
• Lucio, who has been on death row for 18 years, maintains her daughter died from an accidental fall, while the prosecution argued Mariah’s fatal head trauma was due to abuse; hospital findings showed multiple bruises and blunt force trauma.
• District Judge Arturo Nelson, who oversaw Lucio’s original trial, recommended overturning her sentence and declaring her innocent, but the appeals court criticized Nelson’s findings as relying too heavily on Lucio’s interpretation of events.
• Four of nine judges dissented from the ruling, with one noting prosecutors admitted to withholding material evidence during the original trial, and others highlighting the extensive bruising on Mariah’s body and unresolved contradictions in the case.
• Lucio’s defense plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, with hopes of exoneration that would make her the first woman declared innocent from Texas death row; her case has drawn bipartisan legislative attention and public scrutiny.