State district judge recommends overturning
Melissa Lucio’s death sentence
The Texas Tribune,
by
WILLIAM MELHADO
Original Article
Posted By: MsMontana,
4/16/2024 4:18:06 PM
A district judge who previously presided over a woman’s capital murder case recommended last week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn Melissa Lucio's 2008 conviction after a district attorney’s office admitted that prosecutors withheld evidence from her defense.
Decades after a jury sentenced Lucio to death for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, the Cameron County district attorney and Lucio’s legal team cosigned court filings that found key evidence, which included interviews with Lucio’s other children, was suppressed by prosecutors at the time of the case.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
MsMontana 4/16/2024 4:20:28 PM (No. 1700544)
THIS is why I am against the death penalty. Because there are too many corrupt prosecutors and judges who aren't interested in justice or a fair trial. What this woman has had to endure is unconscionable.
12 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
chumley 4/16/2024 4:35:01 PM (No. 1700546)
Ditto #1. What throws me is how many government employees we have that have no integrity at all. Its prosecutors sometimes, but all the others as well. They swear an oath when they get the job then violate it before the ink is dry.
4 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
MsMontana 4/16/2024 4:42:27 PM (No. 1700552)
There should be consequences for suppressing evidence. Like sentencing should be on the table. This poor woman lost 17 years of her life because someone refused to do their job. The people responsible should have to pay with 17 years of their life/lives.
15 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
BarryNo 4/16/2024 5:15:08 PM (No. 1700571)
Any prosecutor who hides exculpatory evidence especially in a murder trial, should be sentenced to death.
14 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
seamusm 4/16/2024 5:32:21 PM (No. 1700578)
The prosecutor represents the state and the municipality which elected him. All three entities should be financially liable for wrongful conviction and 17 years of imprisonment not just the state. He should permanently lose his law license at a minimum and be personally liable for damages.
5 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Hermoine 4/16/2024 5:34:12 PM (No. 1700579)
Why does this keep happening? Why do prosecutors care more about a win than justice? Are there any ethical prosecutors left??? Also, where is the accountability? Not only should this woman walk free, she should be paid millions by the state and then the prosecuting attorney should be tried for violating his/her oath of office and for committing a Brady violation. (By the way, I find it interesting that the reporter went out of his way to not share the name of the original prosecutor.) In addition to the prosecutor, the judge (who is still there!) should be held accountable as well for not allowing crucial testimony from two witnesses for the case. Basically, the judge sided with the prosecution at the outset of the case and ensured the verdict was rigged. The whole thing is maddening...and this poor woman has not only been in prison for 17 years but in prison with a death sentence. Abhorrent.
7 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
john56 4/16/2024 6:42:05 PM (No. 1700612)
Please note the only politician identified by party is a Dallas area Republican (Dallas is over 400 miles from the Rio Grande Valley). Many, probably all, of the elected prosecutors and judges who tried this case were Democrats.
But the Texas Tribune, a far left group, wouldn't mention that.
6 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Californian 4/16/2024 7:02:11 PM (No. 1700616)
6, because prosecutors either forgot, don't care or were never taught their job, role, and purpose is to fund the truth, not to get convictions at any cost.
And as others have said, this is why I oppose the death penalty in most cases. We can not trust our justice system.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
coldborezero 4/17/2024 6:06:49 AM (No. 1700753)
Re#6: “Why do prosecutors care more about a win than justice?”
Because, when you get down to basics, a prosecutor is a politician. Politicians are criminal psychopaths who care only about winning elections. That’s why.
2 people like this.
There is a law against prosecutors who withhold evidence during a trial but it’s hardly ever used!!! Why get rid of the death penalty when there are so many violent obvious murders i.e., school shootings, domestic violence murders, cop killings, where the death penalty is justified. Go after the lawyers who withhold evidence and leave death penalty alone
0 people like this.
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