Mellissa Lucio is set to be executed for killing her two-year-old daughter. This case is over 15 years old, but it’s just getting significant attention in Dallas. Mallissa Lucio was convicted of the killing of her two-year-old daughter in 2008 in Harlingen, Texas. It was said that the little girl was severely beaten to death, but Lucio’s attorney says that Mariah died after falling down a flight of stairs. It has been noted that witnesses were not allowed to testify during the trial, including an eyewitness who saw her fall down the stairs.
Nevertheless, Lucio’s family remains optimistic as the April 27th execution date approaches. They hope the Texas board of pardons and paroles will grant a reprieve or clemency. While critics continue to point to the evidence of abuse uncovered during the initial trial, celebrities are also interested in Lucios’s case and call for compassion. Lucio’s supporters call for everyone to write a letter to governor abbot and the board of pardons and paroles.
During Mellisa Lucio’s interrogation, she was badgered and asked if she knew something was wrong. Then, they asked her to show how she would discipline her child with a doll. On July 18, 1968, Melissa Lucio was born in Lubbock, Texas.
She grew up in a strict catholic Mexican – American family in a poverty-stricken area. Starting at just six years old, Mellissa would get taken advantage of by multiple family members whenever her family would leave the house. She was timid and scared and never spoke up about what was happening to her consistently. She finally fled from the abuse when she was 16 by getting married in the hopes of being saved from all her troubles. Melissa’s mother consented to the marriage, and Mellissa dropped out of school in the 11th grade. Unfortunately, Mellisa went from one lousy environment to another. Her husband drank and sold drugs and verbally and physically abused her. Because of the bad environment that she was introduced to, she began to develop a cocaine addiction, and after five children, her husband left her behind and moved to Houston. After being abandoned by her husband, Mellissa depended on free meals to feed her children.
Fast forward to 2007, she was in a new relationship with a man she called her husband even though they were not legally married. They had seven children together. Mellissa had 12 children altogether, which is a heavy load for anyone.
Mariah was one of Melissa’s younger children learning to walk, but she was prone to falling because one of her feet faced inward. It was Saturday around seven o clock at night on February 17, 2007, when something happened to Mariah leaving the family no choice but to call emergency. During Mariah’s visit to the emergency room, she was pronounced dead, and medical examiners determined that Mariah’s cause of death was not a fall but a blunt force trauma to the head. It has been said that Mariah had been abused by her sister Alex. Lucio was pregnant with twins during the death of Mariah. She has continuously pleaded with her innocents yet faces extinction on September 27, 2022, less than a month away. If she is executed, she will have Been the first Hispanic woman executed in Texas.
Although it can be disempowering to say that Lucio was a victim of her circumstances, there is no other way to process what will occur with her execution. This woman was abused as a child, then married young only to be left and abandoned by her husband with five children, who then found happiness with another man while caring for 12 children. This woman had a lot on her plate and would rely heavily on her teenage daughter Alex to help her with her life’s heavy load. I believe that she should not go down in history as the first Mexican American woman to be executed if she had the resources to present herself properly and win the legal justice system. Maybe she would have been given a fair chance at defending herself. We all should stand in solidarity and write governor Greg Abbot and ask him for leniency because many circumstances, in this case, should be considered when judging Lucio so harshly.
By
Diane Revilla
