Death Row Inmate Vindicated In Texas Court But Still Remains In Prison Despite Innocence – Awaits Final Sign-Off Since 2024
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#FreeMelissaLucio Campaign Demands Freedom for Innocent Woman Still Held on Texas Death Row
Editor’s note: Aside from being a violation of Ms. Lucio’s right to be released for a crime she should never have been convicted of, this case also appears to violate her right to a speedy trial, as outlined in the Sixth Amendment as well as in the Federal Speedy Trial Act of 1974. The speedy trial happened, both for the original case and the dismissal, and now a paperwork review issue prevents her trial from being completed. She has now waited in prison for two years while the Court refuses to sign off on this valid order to vacate her execution. Death Penalty Action had previously campaigned against the possibility of the death penalty in the infamous Luigi Mangione murder trial for the killing of the CEO of United Healthcare. They also protested against cruel and unusual punishment, which courts have thus far interpreted as not applying to being killed by the state for a crime, unless it is excessively torturous and prolonged. While it would be expected that the Eight Amendment would apply to death, this is not the case. Lethal injections, it should be noted, have been forbidden by the manufacturers of all of the medications that can cause death upon injection. This is not their intended purpose, and any physician who administers such a drug during an execution is subject to losing their license. This makes it more difficult for states to use this method for their executions, as a doctor is not able to attend such an execution. However, they have been undeterrred, instead turning to firing squads and electric chairs to do this work.
Also, it should be noted that, according to Death Penalty Information Center: “However, as federal courts began to more thoroughly review whether state criminal defendants were afforded their guaranteed rights to due process, errors and official misconduct began to regularly appear, requiring retrials. When defendants were now afforded more experienced counsel, with fairly selected juries, and were granted access to scientific testing, some were acquitted and released. Since 1973, 200 former death-row prisoners have been exonerated of all charges related to the wrongful convictions that had put them on death row”
Austin, TX – With the fourth anniversary of the stay of execution granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals coming up on Saturday, that court once again failed to issue a ruling in motions that should have freed Melissa Lucio in 2023.
“This is an outrage,” said Abraham Bonowitz, Executive Director of Death Penalty Action and Organizer of the #FreeMelissaLucio Campaign. “Four years ago on Saturday (4/25/22), Melissa Lucio was two days from execution. She is innocent. There was no crime. Why is Melissa Lucio still on Texas death row? There is no acceptable answer.”
On April 25, 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TX CCA) halted the execution scheduled for April 27, 2022, and ordered an evidentiary hearing to examine evidence in the case of Melissa Lucio, who was facing execution for the alleged murder of her daughter, Mariah. The evidentiary hearing never happened, because by December, 2022, Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz agreed with Melissa’s attorneys that exculpatory evidence withheld from Melissa’s attorneys at trial cast doubt that the State’s case would have prevailed in a fair trial. Together they proposed a motion to vacate Melissa’s conviction and death sentence. This was originally signed in April, 2024 by the judge who sentenced Melissa to death, and forwarded for review and acceptance by the TCCA. Every Thursday morning at 9am CT, the TX CCA posts it holdings in the cases before it, and yet again, on April 23, 2026, no ruling has been issued. Final documents in the case were submitted in November, 2024. The TX CCA has now been sitting on this case for seventeen months while an innocent woman’s family awaits her release from Texas death row.
“We just want to see my mother free,” said John Lucio, whom Melissa has empowered to speak for her. “She should never have been convicted. She should never have faced execution. And I can’t believe it is four years later and we’re all still waiting. I know this is all on God’s time, but I am begging these judges to please affirm the motion of the Cameron County Prosecutor.”
None of this would have happened had it not been for the work of Melissa’s attorneys, including the Innocence Project, augmented by the public pressure generated by Death Penalty Action, Melissa’s family and allies all over the state of Texas and beyond, urging people to “WATCH THE FILM,” The State of Texas vs. Melissa, by award-winning filmmaker, Sabrina Van Tassel.
Melissa Lucio case timeline. Image Credit – Death Penalty Action
“The judge said she’s innocent and she didn’t kill her daughter,” said Van Tassel. “So what is keeping the CCA from ruling in this case?”
Learn more and see further statements from Melissa Lucio, Sabrina Van Tassel and Abraham Bonowitz at FreeMelissaLucio.org.
Banner Image: Free Melissa Lucio banner. Image Credit – DPA
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Death Penalty Action
Death Penalty Action (DPA) works to stop executions and abolish the death penalty through advocacy, education, and action.
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