Judge says death row inmate Melissa Lucio is “actually innocent,” recommends 2008 conviction be overturned

The judge who presided over the murder trial of Melissa Lucio said he believes Lucio is “actually innocent” in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. 

Lucio has been on death row in Texas since 2008. In 2022, the state Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution in the case. The Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the original trial court to consider whether Lucio was actually innocent and whether state prosecutors had presented false testimony and hidden evidence from the defense. 

In April 2024, Nelson, who presided over the original trial, agreed that the former district attorney illegally withheld favorable evidence that would have helped prove Mariah died from an accidental fall, not abuse, as the prosecution claimed. 

The new evidence suggested that Mariah’s bruises were consistent with a brain injury from an accidental fall down the steps of the family’s home two days earlier, CBS News previously reported. Lucio and some of her children had recounted the fall to police officers and child protective services. Nelson ruled that this violated Lucio’s constitutional rights and recommended the appeals court overturn Lucio’s conviction and death sentence.  

Court documents released yesterday show that in October, Nelson ruled there was clear and convincing evidence that Mariah died from an accidental fall, and said Lucio “is actually innocent; she did not kill her daughter.” 

“No rational juror could have convicted (Lucio) of killing her daughter after hearing all of the evidence from her original trial alongside all of the new evidence she has presented,” Nelson wrote. 

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, who was not in office at the time of Lucio’s original trial, also agreed that the previous prosecuting team suppressed evidence that could have supported Lucio’s innocence, according to a news release from the Innocence Project. 

The case is now before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will decide whether to accept Nelson’s recommendation.

“This is the best news we could get going into the holidays,” said John and Michelle Lucio, Ms. Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, in a statement shared by The Innocence Project. Joined by Ms. Lucio’s son Bobby Alvarez, they added, “We pray our mother will be home soon.”