In the US, a court has found a woman convicted 16 years ago not guilty

Cameron County Court found Melissa Lucio, who was sentenced to death 16 years ago, not guilty. This was reported by The Washington Post (WP) on November 15.

In 2008, Melissa Lucio was found guilty of murdering her daughter Maria. The woman claimed that her daughter accidentally fell down the stairs. Law enforcement officials, however, insisted that Lucio had beaten the girl. The defendant was questioned for several hours until she pleaded not guilty.

Lucio later retracted her confession, and lawyers have been trying to prove her innocence for 16 years. All that time, the capital defendant was incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Gatesville. In April 2022, she received a stay of execution because a review of the defense's arguments was ordered.

Cameron County Judge Arturo Nelson, who retried the case, found that the prosecution had deliberately withheld evidence in Lucio's favor. He also noted that strong evidence had been presented that Lucio was in fact innocent of the crime.

Nelson's decision was referred to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has final authority to overturn the conviction.

Earlier, on Oct. 21, Texas managed to halt the death penalty process at the last minute for a crime it deemed impossible. The defendant in the case, Robert Leslie Roberson, had been trying to prove his innocence in the murder of his two-year-old daughter since 2002. According to the defense, brain swelling and bleeding, which doctors considered signs that she was mistreated at home, were caused by the sick girl falling from her bed.