Melissa Lucio - latest: Family look forward to celebrating Mother’s Day after stay of execution

A woman who was saved from death row and exonerated for killing her child has drawn parallels between her case and the conviction and death sentence of Melissa Lucio.

In 1989, Sabrina Butler-Smith rushed to a Mississippi hospital, after her infant son Walter stopped breathing and she couldn’t resuscitate him with CPR.

Police arrested Ms Butler-Smith, who is Black, the same day Walter died, believing bruises on his chest from the CPR were the result of child abuse.

Ms Butler-Smith was a teenager at the time, in total shock, and the prosecutor said she must’ve been guilty because she wasn’t openly emotional in court during her trial the following year.

After she got a new trial, where new evidence came to light, Ms Butler-Smith was finally exonerated in 1995 becoming the first woman ever to be freed from death row in the US.

She spoke to The Independent prior to Lucio’s stay of execution, recalling how she told Lucio “to hold her head up” because “we’re all fighting for her”.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus has the full story:

Democratic state Rep Joe Moody has said that the stay of execution proves that Melissa Lucio “shouldn’t be on death row”.

“A stay confirms what we’ve said all along: #MelissaLucio shouldn’t be on death row,” he tweeted on Monday, after the Texas appeals court granted her a stay.

“15 years after trial & only 2 days before execution, the CCA has said, ‘she may actually be innocent.’ That timeline and that result is shocking. I’m just so relieved for her. #txlege”

The Democrat is among a group of 83 state representatives who have been calling to halt Lucio’s execution in recent weeks.

Rep Moody has been leading the crusade together with Republican state Rep Jeff Leach and they were among seven state lawmakers who visited Lucio on death row to pray with her and draw attention to her case earlier this month.

Melissa Lucio learned that her life had been spared in an emotional phone call with state Rep Jeff Leach shortly after the Texas appeals court announced it was granting her a stay of execution.

In an audio clip shared online, the 53-year-old is heard gasping, sobbing and laughing all at once as she is overcome with emotion on hearing the news.

“You haven’t heard the news yet?” asks Rep Leach at the start of the audio.

“No, what happened?” Lucio responds.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Melissa Lucio’s attorneys have said there is still “a long way to go” before the mother-of-14 has her freedom back.

“There’s still a long way to go in Melissa’s case, and there’s much more that stands in the way of Melissa and an exoneration,” said The Innocence Project’s Vanessa Potkin, who is a member of Lucio’s legal team.

“But today’s stay and remand to have hearings on new evidence of her innocence really opens the door to the potential of a new trial in her case and ultimately, complete vindication.”

The stay of execution does not mean Lucio is now free.

She will remain on death row as proceedings continue.

The next step will invole the trial court in Brownsville holding an evidentiary hearing where Lucio’s attorneys will present new evidence in the case that they say shows her innocence.

There, the legal team will request a new trial for Lucio.

This will ultimately be decided upon by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Melissa Lucio’s children have said they are now looking forward to spending Mother’s Day with their mother after a court’s ruling means she will now live to see the 8 May celebration.

Bobby Alvarez told reporters that his mother “wants a lot of cards” this year after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted her a stay of execution and stopped the 27 April death sentence from being carried out.

The 22-year-old spoke at a press conference together with his brother John on Monday evening in Gatesville, Texas as they celebrated the news.

He said he was in “shock” when he heard about the 11th-hour stay of execution.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I immediately started crying,” he said.

He said they were now speaking about “what to do about Mother’s Day” – something that hours ago was not a reality.

Mr Alvarez was just seven years old when his mother was charged over his sister’s death and sent to death row.

He said he had spent his childhood “waiting for my mother to come out so we can start that future together”.

Mr Alvarez told The Independent last week that he had never doubted his mother’s innocence.

“Right away I never had a mindset that it was my mom [who killed Mariah],” he says.

“I knew my mom couldn’t have done it.”

Melissa Lucio’s son said “it’s been 15 long years” as his mother has been held on death row awaiting execution for the death of his baby sister.

John Lucio, 32, spoke at a press conference on Monday evening in Gatesville, Texas, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted her a stay of execution.

“It’s been 15 long years,” he said, adding that “there are no more excuses”.

Melissa Lucio’s mother has thanked all the people who supported her daughter in her plight and thanked God “for the miracle” of her stay of execution.

“Thank you for supporting Melissa and thank you to everybody and to God,” she said in a virtual press conference with members of Lucio’s legal team on Monday afternoon.

“Thank God for the miracle.”

One of Melissa Lucio’s attorney has called the decision by the appeals court to grant the mother-of-14 a stay of execution “the right thing”.

Vanessa Potkin, director of Special Litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Melissa’s attorneys, released a statement following the Court of Criminal Appeals’ announcement that it was halting Wednesday’s execution and ordering the trial court to review evidence in the case.

“The Court of Criminal Appeals did the right thing by stopping Melissa’s execution. Medical evidence shows that Mariah’s death was consistent with an accident. But for the State’s use of false testimony, no juror would have voted to convict Melissa of capital murder because no murder occurred,” she said in a statement.

“It would have shocked the public’s conscience for Melissa to be put to death based on false and incomplete medical evidence for a crime that never even happened.

“All of the new evidence of her innocence has never before been considered by any court. The Court’s stay allows us to continue fighting alongside Melissa to overturn her wrongful conviction.”

An emotional audio clip has captured the moment Melissa Lucio learned that her life had been saved, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted her a stay of execution.

The 53-year-old mother-of-14 was told the news in a prison phone call with Republican state Rep Jeff Leach on Monday afternoon.

“You haven’t heard the news yet?” asks Rep Leach.

“No, what happened?” Lucio responds.

“The Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of your execution for Wednesday,” the lawmaker tells her.

Lucio is heard gasping before saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

Her voice breaks and she is heard laughing and sobbing with emotion.

“When did this happen?” she cries.

“We just got word about 15 minutes ago,” he tells her.

“Oh my god!” she says, laughing.

“That is wonderful! Oh my god!”

Melissa Lucio’s family are “relieved and grateful” that the 53-year-old’s life has been saved, according to one of her attorneys.

Tivon Schardl said in a statement that the family were happy with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision to grant her a stay, saying that it “honored” the memory of two-year-old Mariah in the process.

“We know that Melissa’s children — Mariah’s brothers and sisters — and Mariah’s grandparents, aunts and uncles are all relieved and grateful that Melissa’s life will not be taken by the State of Texas,” he said.

“And we believe the court honored Mariah’s memory because Melissa is innocent. Melissa is entitled to a new, fair trial. The people of Texas are entitled to a new, fair trial.

“Texans should be grateful and proud that the Court of Criminal Appeals has given Melissa’s legal team the opportunity to present the new evidence of Melissa’s innocence to the Cameron County district court.”

Mr Schardl thanked “the hundreds of thousands of Texans and people around the US and the world” who had shown support for Lucio in recent months.