Alicia Maule
In our work by way of Friendship of Women Inc., we join daily with women in Cameron County who need assistance coping with home abuse. We attempt to assist these girls and their households, in addition to to teach authorities officers in regards to the details and realities of home violence primarily based on analysis.
Melissa Lucio, who faces execution in Texas on April 27, is a survivor of kid sexual abuse and relentless home abuse. She by no means obtained the assistance she wanted. Melissa’s case illustrates the very important function performed by organizations like ours; if solely somebody had referred her to outreach companies or we had recognized about her scenario when there was nonetheless a possibility to assist, we doubt she can be on demise row at the moment.
From what we have now discovered about Melissa’s case, the proof is overwhelming that her younger daughter’s demise was a tragic accident, the results of a fall down the steps, not a criminal offense. Melissa is a sufferer, not a assassin. Melissa has not correctly grieved the lack of her little one.
Add your name to stop the execution.
Published in Brownsville Herald on Feb. 10, 2022
Melissa had a number of childhood adversities that led to cumulative traumas all through her life. Her stepfather and uncle started raping her when she was simply 6 years previous. She turned a toddler bride at 16 to flee the terrors of residence, however the marriage was no refuge. Her husband abused her for a few years, had his personal dependancy drawback, and dealt medicine. After he deserted her with 5 babies, her subsequent companion was no completely different, the abuse continued each bodily and emotionally. By the point she was 35, Melissa was battling abuse, psychological sickness, dependancy and poverty. She had given beginning to 12 kids and suffered a number of miscarriages.
Whereas regulation enforcement and little one protecting providers had been typically contacted due to the violence inflicted by Melissa’s companions, Melissa by no means obtained the assist or therapy she wanted. A number of techniques failed her and her household. At instances the household was homeless or residing in deplorable circumstances. And but, hundreds of pages of Youngster Protecting Companies Data present that Melissa’s 12 kids by no means stated that she was violent with them.
The state of Texas has continued the cycle of victimization by wrongfully convicting Melissa of capital homicide and sentencing her to demise. Melissa’s conviction turned on a so-called confession that was obtained after a prolonged and coercive interrogation. Melissa repeatedly informed the officers that she didn’t kill her daughter, however they continued to threaten her, utilizing strategies which can be infamous for producing false confessions, significantly when utilized to a trauma survivor like Melissa. Ultimately, she acquiesced, saying “I assume I did it.”
What occurred to Melissa Lucio is distressingly frequent. In response to the Innocence Venture and the Innocence Community, a considerable share of girls who’ve been wrongfully convicted of killing a toddler had been coerced into falsely confessing. Of the 67 girls listed on the National Registry of Exonerations who had been exonerated after a homicide conviction, greater than 1 / 4 concerned false confessions, and practically a 3rd concerned little one victims.
“Melissa repeatedly informed the officers that she didn’t kill her daughter.”
Furthermore, within the practically 15 years since Melissa was arrested and interrogated, analysis on home violence has developed significantly. We now have little doubt that Melissa’s case can be dealt with in another way at the moment primarily based on present literature displaying how home abuse survivors use coping abilities.
In reality, even on the time of Melissa’s trial, a psychologist was out there to elucidate to the jury why Melissa’s historical past of abuse made her weak to the officers” interrogation techniques, however the trial courtroom refused to confess the testimony. In 2019, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Courtroom of Appeals dominated that Melissa ought to get a brand new trial as a result of she was denied the chance to current a protection. They acknowledged that offering a proof for her incriminating statements in the course of the interrogation would have been probably the most important proof within the case, given the absence of any bodily proof or witness testimony establishing that Melissa had abused any of her kids, not to mention killed her toddler. When Texas appealed, the en banc Fifth Circuit — cut up 10 to 7 – overturned that call. Extremely, three of the ten judges within the majority stated the exclusion of the psychologist’s testimony was “the important thing evidentiary ruling within the case,” and Melissa’s case was “a transparent instance that justice to a defendant” just isn’t out there beneath at the moment’s procedures.
It might be unconscionable for Melissa to be executed regardless of the numerous proof that her little one’s demise was not a criminal offense, and she or he was denied the proper to current a protection. On the very least, Melissa’s case ought to be reexamined in gentle of our present understanding of home violence. We hope that the Cameron County district legal professional will rethink and withdraw Melissa’s execution date, or {that a} courtroom will intervene.
Gloria Ocampo is govt director and CEO of Friendship of Ladies Inc., in Brownsville, Nora Montalvo-Liendo, an affiliate professor at Texas A&M College and conducts analysis on violence towards girls.
