HOUSTON (AP) — Efforts to free Melissa Lucio, a Texas woman whose execution was delayed in 2022 amid growing doubts she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter, were significantly bolstered after a judge concluded that she is “actually innocent” of capital murder.
Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson concluded that prosecutors presented false testimony, suppressed evidence and that new scientific evidence that was not available during Lucio’s 2008 trial undermines and contradicts evidence presented by the state. He recommended that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned.
“This Court finds (Lucio) has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder,” Nelson wrote in a 62-page ruling he signed in October but was not made public until Thursday.
Lucio has long maintained she is innocent and her daughter Mariah died of a head injury sustained in an accidental fall down a steep staircase two days before her death.
Nelson’s recommendation has been sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final decision in Lucio’s case. There was no timetable for a ruling by the appeals court. Lucio’s case has garnered support from celebrities like Kim Kardashian and a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
“This is the best news we could get going into the holidays,” John and Michelle Lucio, Melissa Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, said in a statement. “We pray our mother will be home soon.”
Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said Lucio was “sent to death row for a crime that never happened.”
The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Lucio, didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
Lucio, 56, had been set for lethal injection in April 2022 for the 2007 death of her daughter in Harlingen, a city of about 71,000 in Texas’ southern tip. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted her lethal injection two days before her execution so Lucio’s claims that new evidence would exonerate her could be reviewed.
The appeals court had asked the trial court to review four claims made by Lucio’s lawyers: prosecutors used false testimony; previously unavailable scientific evidence would preclude her conviction; Lucio is actually innocent; and prosecutors suppressed evidence favorable to her.
In April, Nelson had approved an agreement between prosecutors and Lucio’s attorneys that found Lucio’s conviction should be overturned amid findings that evidence in her murder trial was suppressed. Prosecutors had previously maintained Mariah was the victim of abuse and noted her body was covered in bruises.
The appeals court sent the case back to Nelson in June, asking he also make recommendations in the other three claims.
Nelson found in favor of Lucio in the other three claims as well, including faulting prosecutors for presenting medical expert testimony that claimed the girl’s injuries could only have been caused by abuse and presenting “scientifically wrong testimony” from a Texas Ranger who claimed he could tell Lucio was guilty based on her demeanor and body language when interrogated.
Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70
FILE - This undated booking photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Melissa Lucio. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Hundreds of hotel workers at a casino near the Las Vegas Strip went on strike just before dawn Friday after a long and highly publicized fight for a new contract.
The strike at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas marks the first open-ended strike in 22 years for the Culinary Workers Union, the largest labor union in Nevada, with about 60,000 members.
The union posted on the social platform X on Friday morning: “@VirginHotelsLV casino is ON STRIKE! Virgin hotel workers are walking out RIGHT NOW at Virgin Las Vegas for a fair contract! Stand with the workers, DO NOT CROSS THE STRIKE LINE!”
"24/7 picket lines around the property” would be in place during the strike, the union said in a news release, urging customers to cancel reservations or check out and choose a union accommodation.
The company’s proposal worked out to an estimated $0.30 per year to wages over five years after deducting money for benefits, Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in the news release.
“The Virgin Las Vegas’ proposal is miles apart and is an insult to every worker — which is why the committee voted unanimously to refuse to settle for a second-class contract,” Pappageorge said. “Workers at Virgin Las Vegas deserve a first-class contract with fair wage increases, and they are organized and ready to strike for it.”
Workers at the casino also walked off the job for 48 hours earlier this year as negotiations escalated, hoping to pressure Virgin Hotels to agree to a new five-year deal with increased wages and better benefits.
Housekeepers, cocktail and food servers, porters and bellhops were among those on the picket line Friday outside the hotel-casino, which was formerly the Hard Rock Las Vegas.
It comes exactly a year after casinos up and down the Strip narrowly avoided tens of thousands of hospitality workers walking off the job on the weekend the city was set to host its first Formula One race on the famous boulevard. But agreements were reached just before the union's deadline for a strike, giving workers a roughly 32% salary increase over the life of the contract, including a 10% bump in pay in the first year.
After the breakthrough deals last November, the Culinary Union quickly reached similar agreements for the rest of its members at major hotel-casinos on the Strip, downtown and at off-Strip properties — with the exception of Virgin Hotels. The contracts on the Strip alone cover more than 40,000 workers.
Bethany Khan, a spokesperson for the union, said Virgin Hotels is the “final holdout.” The union's contract covering about 700 employees there expired last June.
The union says Virgin Hotels does not want to give its workers any wage increases during the first three years of a new five-year contract.
“We are worth more than zero wage increases,” Merla Paramo, a casino porter, said in a statement provided by the union.
Virgin Hotels said Thursday in a statement that it agreed to some wage increases before the fourth year of a new contract, but the union declined the proposal. Virgin Hotels did not provide specifics on its proposal.
“Our dedication to our team members’ well-being and achieving sustainable performance at our property remains steadfast, and we are fully committed to finding a fair resolution that is in their best interest,” the statement reads.
While Friday's walkout is far smaller in scale than the strikes planned for last year on the Strip, disruptions are still likely because of Virgin Hotels' location. The 1,500-room property is just off the Strip and along a common route to the tourist corridor from the city's international airport.
The hotel-casino sits on a recognizable lot where an 80-foot (24-meter) neon guitar sign stood for decades. It was removed in 2017 after the Hard Rock closed.
Culinary Union members last went on strike in 2002 for 10 days at the Golden Gate hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas.
Members of the Culinary Workers Union picket in front of the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Members of the Culinary Workers Union picket in front of the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Members of the Culinary Workers Union picket in front of the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
FILE - Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is illuminated on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
