Lawyers hope new evidence can stop Texas woman Melissa Lucio's execution
Lawyers say an ambiguous statement by Lucio during questioning was wrongly interpreted by prosecutors as a murder confession, during the investigation into her daughter Mariah's 2007 death.
HOUSTON — During hours of relentless questioning, Melissa Lucio more than 100 times had denied fatally beating her 2-year-old daughter.
But worn down from a lifetime of abuse and the grief of losing her daughter Mariah, her lawyers say, the Texas woman finally acquiesced to investigators. "I guess I did it," Lucio responded when asked if she was responsible for some of Mariah's injuries.
Her lawyers say that statement was wrongly interpreted by prosecutors as a murder confession — tainting the rest of the investigation into Mariah's 2007 death, with evidence gathered only
