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

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles will considering a request to either commute Melissa Lucio’s death sentence to life imprisonment or to grant her a 120-day execution reprieve.  Any decision by the parole board will however need Texas governor Gregg Abbott’s approval. The Republican has only granted clemency to only one death row inmate since taking office in 2015.

Appeals seeking to stop Ms Lucio’s execution – currently scheduled for Wednesday – are pending in state and federal courts also.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Nearly half of the jurors who sentenced Melissa Lucio to death have since called for her execution to be halted and for a new trial for the 53-year-old.

The prosecutor in the case, Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, also said earlier this month he did not “disagree with all the scrutiny this case is getting. I welcome that”.

During a recent Texas House committee hearing on Ms Lucio‘s case, Mr Saenz had initially pushed back on requests to use his power to stop the execution, before later saying he would intervene if the courts did not act. 

Ms Lucio, whose lawyers say evidence shows she did not cause her two-year-old daughter’s death in 2007, is now subject to a clemency hearing on Monday.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

The European Union (EU) has called on Texas governor Greg Abbott to reverse his state’s death sentence of Melissa Lucio.

The French ambassador to the US, Philippe Etienne, and the EU’s Ambassador to the US, Stavros Lambrinidis, co-signed a statement on behalf of the EU asking Mr Abbott to grant Lucio clemency.

“As you know, the European Union and its Member States have abolished the use of capital punishment in all circumstances,” the letter states.

“We firmly believe that it is possible to offer staunch support to all victims of abuse and crime as well as their families by rigorously and effectively prosecuting and punishing perpetrators, outside the framework of the death penalty,” it read.

Johanna Chisholm has more.

Supporters took out rallies across the United States over the weekend urging Texas governor Greg Abbot to spare the life of Melissa Lucio, who is on death row after being convicted of murdering her two-year-old daughter Mariah in 2007.

During the rallies, organisers attempted to collect signatures for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Mr Abbott.

Rallies were planned in Houston, Atlanta, Austin and 13 other states. “Melissa was interrogated for almost seven hours, just minutes after being taken in after her daughter’s death,” rally organizer Cody Huffman told KSAT-TV.

“Nothing there proves that she physically did anything to commit the crime that she was convicted of. And, but there is plenty of evidence that shows she is innocent of the crime,” Mr Huffman added.

Bobby Alvarez has been running from pillar to post to get authorities in Texas to halt his mother Melissa Lucio’s execution scheduled for 27 April.

Lucio, the only Hispanic woman on death row in Texas, has always maintained that she was wrongly convicted of the 2007 murder of her two-year-old daughter Mariah.

“It was very difficult than being put in foster care … you feel so alone and that no one is there for you. I cried every night wanting to be back with her, for my parents to come for us. I knew they weren’t coming but there was always that hope,” he told The Independent.

The 53-year-old mother of 14, along with multiple medical experts not heard at her trial, says that the little girl actually died from injuries caused by an accidental fall down the stairs two days before her death.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the clemency hearing over Texas mother Melissa Lucio’s impending execution, and the calls from her supporters to spare her life.