Saving Melissa Lucio, the woman on death row in Texas

Texas has granted a stay of execution for Melissa Lucio ... two days before she was set to be put to death. This is her story.

Transcript

00:00My name is Melissa Elizabeth Lucio. I'm 48 years old. I'm the first Hispanic woman on death row.

00:08It is up to you right now, to all of us, to make noise and stop that execution.

00:13The only thing that got Melissa Lucio on death row is her court's confession. She was accused

00:34of murdering her daughter, her two-year-old daughter, abusing her for weeks, months, until

00:44she passed away. Basically what they were doing is they were trying to make me admit that I was

00:51the one responsible for her fall. The interrogation continued for maybe six, six, seven hours until

01:00three o'clock in the morning. This is your chance to set it straight because right now it looks like

01:05capital murder. Right now it looks like you're a cold-blooded killer. Now were you a cold-blooded

01:10killer or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on her? We knew somebody did it. We're

01:16trying to find out who did it. If it wasn't you, I don't think somebody crept in there at the middle

01:21of the middle of the night and went up to your child and specifically singled her out so he

01:26could bite her on the back. It happens, okay? We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes. We all get

01:35upset. We already know what happened. We already know what happened. It was only a four-day trial.

01:40So for four days she only had people testifying against her. The kids kept saying that she had

01:47fallen down the stairs, but nobody listened to the kids. And the kids were not even, you know,

01:53asked to testify at trial. So all the jury saw were horrible pictures of a dead, bruised child

02:01and a mother who admitted she was a very flawed character. She was someone who had been sexually

02:10abused when she was a child. She had been systematically abused by the men in her life.

02:16And she was someone who had a history of drug abuse and she had way too many children. So all

02:23that combined was just, just completely worked against her. And people were just like, okay, let's get rid of Melissa Lucey.

02:44I went down to Gatesville in Texas and to find her family. And I managed to find them. And when

02:52I saw them the very first time, they said to me, you're the first person who has come to

02:58ask us any question about Melissa in 13 years. I investigated the political part.

03:06And I found out that the DA in her case, Armando Villalobos, was in the middle of, it was election

03:13year. And he was actually in turmoil because he had problems, you know, with other cases. So he

03:22needed, you know, something big, something big, you know, to save his reputation and be reelected.

03:29Now Armando Villalobos was investigated by the FBI and he was sentenced to prison.

03:37He is serving 13 years as we speak. And he was someone known for bribing judges, bribing

03:48lawyers, getting rich people to pay him. And the poor people would be the statistics that he needed.

03:56In 2019, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her conviction based on the fact that

04:01she did not have a fair trial. The state of Texas immediately appealed that decision and

04:09it was reversed once again. Her last hope was the U.S. Supreme Court.

04:14The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Melissa's case in October. And less than 90 days

04:24after that, the DA's office in Brownsville County decided to give her an execution date.

04:29There are people in Texas and all over the U.S. who have been waiting for an execution date

04:36for years. Why so soon? Why now? Her children reached out to me. They are devastated by the

04:43news. One of her daughters has said on social media that she wants to kill herself. People

04:50don't understand the collateral damage that hits families. Children are never, you know,

04:57able to recover from that. So her children are traumatized. They are trying to do everything

05:02that they can. Please join them in that fight. The only thing that could save Melissa right now

05:08would be for you to go on social media, to make noise, to sign the petition,

05:18to call Governor Abbott in Texas, to call the DA's office, to basically stop her execution.