Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Stays Execution of Death Row Inmate and Remands Habeas Claims to Trial Court

On April 19, 2022, Cravath, working on a pro bono basis, submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the Innocence Network in support of death row inmate Melissa Lucio’s application for habeas corpus and motion to stay execution. Just two days before the scheduled execution, on April 25, 2022, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a per curiam opinion staying the execution and remanding the habeas claims to the trial court for a merits review.

In 2008, Ms. Lucio was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her two‑year‑old daughter Mariah. Ms. Lucio told investigators that Mariah fell down the stairs of her family’s apartment and tragically succumbed to her injuries several days later. The state of Texas claimed that Ms. Lucio inflicted significant abuse on her daughter that subsequently caused Mariah’s death. At trial, the state relied on testimony from a medical examiner who stated that Mariah could not have died from an accidental fall because of the absence of certain biological markers during her autopsy, and that “bite mark” evidence and bruising on Mariah’s body confirmed that she was abused. The state also relied on Ms. Lucio’s confession, which was obtained after police employed highly coercive techniques on her during a lengthy interrogation. The trial court rejected Ms. Lucio’s attempt to introduce expert testimony on false confessions.

On April 15, 2022, Ms. Lucio filed an application for habeas corpus and motion to stay execution. On April 19, 2022, Cravath and co‑counsel filed an amicus brief in support of Ms. Lucio’s application, arguing that the conviction was based on scientifically unsupportable and false testimony, and that the jury was unable to consider new scientific evidence that her coerced confession was false. The brief urged the court to grant relief because the state medical examiner’s testimony had been proven false by recent scientific evidence showing Mariah could have died from an accidental fall down a flight of stairs, rather than from child abuse. Further, the brief argued that new scientific evidence discredited “bite mark” evidence used by the state to argue that Mariah had been abused. Lastly, the brief argued that new social science evidence rendered Ms. Lucio’s confession unreliable because it was obtained by interrogators who used highly coercive techniques on a uniquely vulnerable individual—a survivor of mental, physical and sexual abuse.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Ms. Lucio’s application under Article 11.071 §5(a) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, finding that four of her claims merited review by the trial court: her false testimony claim, unavailable scientific evidence claim, actual innocence claim, and Brady claim. Ms. Lucio will now have the opportunity to present further evidence supporting her claims in the trial court, and her execution is stayed in the interim.

The Cravath team included partner Benjamin Gruenstein and associates Ravinder Singh, Corby F. Burger and Mark C. Davies. Caitlin J. Bailey also worked on this matter.