Texas planned to execute Melissa Lucio on Wednesday . Republican and Democratic state legislators had prayed with her on death row and called for her execution …
Texas planned to execute Melissa Lucio on Wednesday. Republican and Democratic state legislators had prayed with her on death row and called for her execution to be halted. Sister Helen Prejean had spoken on her behalf. Even Kim Kardashian lent her support. Why? Because Melissa Lucio is innocent. Now the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has granted a request to stay her execution. Lucio will now have a hearing to prove that her conviction is wrongful and based on a coerced “confession,” unscientific evidence and false testimony. Lucia can point to her repeated assertions of innocence, and newly discovered evidence that wasn’t presented at trial. I represent women who have been wrongly convicted when no crime occurred. Perhaps shockingly, of the exonerated women listed in the National Registry of Exonerations database, 70% were victims of no-crime wrongful convictions. How does this happen? An accident – a health crisis, a fall, a fire – is misinterpreted as a willful and violent act. For women, the accident victim is usually someone they loved: a partner, parent or child. Lucio has been convicted of capital murder. But she is the victim, convicted as a result of a tragic death that was not a crime. Lucio is not alone. When confronted by police and accused of killing their loved ones, women caretakers frequently have a similar but surprising response: They confess. They internalize the idea that they must have committed some sort of harm to their loved one, particularly when confronted with scientific evidence. Police can lie to suspects, and the use of unreliable scientific evidence like an autopsy or emergency room report can convince women that the science must be right, that they somehow harmed their loved one or have a duty and obligation to take responsibility for what happened.
