#253 Jason Flom on Melissa Lucio

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2022

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Time is running out for Melissa Lucio. We must act now! Melissa Lucio had 12 children with twins on the way, when the family was moving to a new apartment at the behest of Child Protective Services. A set of rickety exit stairs was high on the list of reasons, and a history of inter-sibling violence was well documented. Melissa's youngest, 2 year old Mariah, fell down those rickety stairs during the move. There were no outward injuries; however, over the next 2 days, the fall caused a sequence of medical issues to unfold, including cerebral edema, brain bleed, a deficiency of blood clotting factors, and eventually the appearance of wide spread inexplicable bruising. On February 17th, 2007, paramedics were dispatched to an unresponsive Mariah who subsequently died. Injuries and bruises from previous inter-sibling violence, the tumble down the stairs, and her depleted ability to stave off internal bleeding led first responders, physicians, and the police to believe that Mariah had experienced horrific child abuse at the hands of her primary caregiver. Melissa Lucio was convicted of child abuse, as well as capital murder, and sentenced to death. The DA on her case is himself serving 13 years for accepting bribes in exchange for favorable outcomes in other trials. Shortly after Melissa's conviction, her defense attorney was hired by that DA at a higher than usual rate, as was his wife. Meanwhile, Melissa's execution date is set for April 27th, 2022. To learn more and get involved, visit: Sign the petition at: https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/stop-execution-of-innocent-melissa-lucio-texas/ If you live in Texas, call Cameron County DA Saenz to ask that Melissa's execution date be withdrawn: 956-300-3881 OR Call Governor Abbott to tell him that you support clemency for Melissa Lucio: 956-446-2866 Social Media Toolkit: https://innocenceproject.org/social-media-toolkit-stop-execution-melissa-lucio-texas/ https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom/ Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Since the initial release of our coverage of Melissa Lucio's case, there have been some developments.
0:05.0	This is a re-release of that coverage with brand new content.
0:11.0	Melissa Lucio grew up poor in South Texas, a victim of years of sexual abuse from multiple offenders in the home.
0:18.0	At age 16, she married her first boyfriend to escape, tying up her self-worth and being a mother.
0:24.0	So much so that she eventually had 14 children, the final two were twins that Melissa delivered behind bars after having been accused of allegedly murdering the next youngest sibling, two-year-old Mariah.
0:36.0	On February 15, 2007, Mariah's older siblings witnessed her take a tumble down the stairs.
0:43.0	Lether G and a lack of appetite were hoped to be symptoms of something less severe than head trauma, but when she became unresponsive on February 17, they called the MS.
0:52.0	Mariah passed away and an aggressive interrogation ensued resulting in an admission to an overarching sense of guilt that most any mother would feel.
1:01.0	The usual bruising from rough play with her siblings was later used to support the state's theory of a pattern of abuse.
1:08.0	Melissa's conviction would also go a long way to shore up a top-on-crime image for a corrupt district attorney and broiled an upscandal during an election year.
1:18.0	Defying logic and the scientific method, the state's forensic pathologist ruled out Mariah's fall down the stairs as the cause of the fatal head trauma.
1:27.0	Further, the children who witnessed the accident and denied the pattern of abuse were not called to testify.
1:33.0	After trial, Melissa's defense attorney was immediately hired to the DA's office with a bump in pay, the DA got reelected but was later prosecuted by the FBI, and Melissa is still on death row.
1:47.0	This is wrongful conviction.
1:55.0	Dressing.
1:56.0	Dressing.
1:58.0	Oh, French dressing.
1:59.0	Exactly.
2:03.0	I'm AJ Jacobs and my current obsession is Puzzles.
2:07.0	And that has given birth to my new podcast, The Puzzler.
2:11.0	Something about Mary Poppins?
2:12.0	Exactly.
	...

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