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Video length: 2 min
United States: Convicted mother on death row for 15 years
Melissa Lucio, a mother of 14, was sentenced to death for the murder of her daughter in 2007. She was due to be executed but was granted a delay by the Texas appeals court to prove her innocence.
It was Melissa Lucio’s last chance to escape the death penalty. The justice system suspended her execution in the United States. In 2007, this mother of 14 children was sentenced to death for the murder of her daughter Maria, who was two years old. She has since proclaimed her innocence. Her daughter, she assures, died after falling down the stairs in front of her house. A hypothesis that the American justice system had not taken into account at the time.
Her confession to the court, according to her supporters, was extorted from her after a long interrogation. According to her lawyer, the courts must now take into account Melissa Lucio’s version. For the time being, she remains on death row. Her lawyers assure that they want to present new scientific evidence in order to obtain a review of the trial.