Bishop Daniel E. Flores on Monday voiced opposition to the upcoming execution of a Harlingen mother.
Melissa Lucio, of Harlingen, is scheduled for execution on April 27 on a murder conviction in the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter.
On Monday, Flores tweeted the image of a statement dated Feb. 22 that called for the state officials to commute her death sentence. Flores cites “many circumstances that cast doubt on Melissa Lucio’s conviction for first-degree murder.”
A portion of his statement reads: “I want to say a word to the people of the Valley about the pending execution. Death is not the answer to death. One tragedy is not somehow made better by killing someone else. Justice is not suddenly restored because another person dies. Executing Melissa will not bring peace to her surviving children, it will only bring more pain and suffering.
“I urge the State of Texas to commute Melissa’s death sentence. Let us not give up on her life.”
Beyond advocating for Lucio’s life, the letter also calls for the end of the death penalty.
“I ask everyone to work and pray to end the death penalty in Texas and in this country,” the bishop wrote.
A Cameron County jury in 2008 found Lucio guilty of one count of capital murder for causing the death of Mariah Alvarez. The child had been beaten, authorities said. Lucio denies killing her daughter.
On the night of Mariah’s death on Feb. 17, 2007, Lucio told police and EMS personnel that Mariah had fallen downstairs, according to federal court documents. Later that night, during a videotaped interview with investigators, Lucio said she had caused the bruises on Mariah’s body by spanking the child “real hard” and “nobody else would hit her.”
During an interview with the Texas Rangers, Lucio admitted she was responsible for her daughter’s death, prosecutors said. Lucio’s appeals attorney says Lucio’s confession was coerced.
Lucio was 38 years old at the time.
Lucio’s family and allies on Feb. 16 embarked on a statewide tour to rally support for a commutation of the death sentence.
The family and groups Death Penalty Action and The Innocence Project want Gov. Greg Abbott to grant clemency or a new trial for Lucio. The prosecutor at her capital murder trial was Armando Villalobos, who was later convicted in a federal bribery and extortion case and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The conviction of Melissa Lucio was the focus of a documentary film, “The State of Texas vs. Melissa.” The director of that film, Sabrina Van Tassel, told the Valley Morning Star in February that the evidence uncovered by the documentary’s investigation cast doubts on the entire judicial process in the matter.
“I have some words for you: Reasonable doubt,” the director said. “Once you watch the film, once you study the case, there’s just so many question marks in this case. So many things that went wrong. I often say that everything that could have gone wrong in Melissa’s case went wrong. Every single thing, and you are about to execute someone without any evidence really that she did it.”
Reporters Laura B. Martinez and Rick Kelley contributed to this report.
