On September 24, 2026, in a devastating 5-4 decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a lower court’s finding that Melissa Lucio is actually innocent of her daughter Mariah’s death.
The court declined to grant relief despite the trial court’s finding of actual innocence and the Cameron County District Attorney’s concession of prosecutorial misconduct.
Melissa’s attorneys will now take her case to federal court.
You can read the full press release from her legal team below.
For Immediate Release: September 24, 2026
Melissa Lucio Attorney Statement: Despite Agreement of All Parties, Sharply Divided Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Rejects Trial Court’s Finding of Constitutional Error
Trial Court Had Previously Found Ms. Lucio “Is Actually Innocent”
(September 24, 2026) Today, a sharply divided Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) did not accept the recommendation of the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron Country that Melissa Lucio is actually innocent and did not kill her daughter, Mariah. The CCA ruled 5-4 that Ms. Lucio is not entitled to relief from her wrongful conviction despite the District Attorney’s concession of prosecutorial misconduct and the innocence finding by the judge who oversaw her trial.
In a lengthy dissent, CCA Judge Lee Finley castigated the majority’s rejection of the trial court’s factual findings, which he explained are clearly supported by the record:
“Judge Nelson presided over Applicant’s trial. He—like the original jurors—witnessed all the testimony and was privy to all the evidence introduced at trial. He is in a better position than this Court to make the determination of whether the State’s concession of error is credible. And he is in a better position than this Court to decide whether the alleged Brady evidence was indeed suppressed, favorable, and material. Moreover, Judge Nelson is permitted to rely on his own ‘personal recollections;’ to make the findings of fact and conclusions of law in this case. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 11.071, § 9. On balance, the Court should weigh Judge Nelson’s personal experience with Applicant’s case heavily. But the Court does not weigh Judge Nelson’s recommendation heavily; it does not weigh his recommendation at all. In fact, the Court disregards Judge Nelson’s recommendation entirely. It does so simply because there was no evidentiary hearing held.” (Finley dissent, pp.38-39)
In response to the CCA’s decision, Vanessa Potkin, Director of Special Litigation at the Innocence Project, and one of Melissa Lucio’s attorneys, made the following statement:
“We will proceed to federal court and do everything in our power to make sure Melissa Lucio, an innocent mother who has suffered unbelievably, is not executed for a crime that never occurred. Judge Nelson presided over Ms. Lucio’s trial in 2008 and carefully considered the new evidence in post-conviction proceedings. He found that Ms. Lucio ‘is actually innocent; she did not kill her daughter,’ Mariah, and found in her favor on all other claims. Judge Nelson is best suited to evaluate the evidence and he concluded that Ms. Lucio is innocent.
“In addition, it is rare for a District Attorney to concede that a conviction cannot stand because of a constitutional error – but that’s exactly what happened in Ms. Lucio’s case. Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz admitted that the previous District Attorney suppressed evidence supporting Ms. Lucio’s defense at trial that her daughter died after an accidental fall. District Attorney Saenz acknowledged, and Judge Nelson found, that Ms. Lucio’s trial was not fair because the prior District Attorney unconstitutionally withheld evidence that witnesses saw Mariah fall down the stairs and were aware of her deteriorating conditions in the days following her fall.
“Between Judge Nelson’s detailed findings of innocence, and District Attorney Saenz’s concession of error, we are confident that the courts will clear Melissa Lucio and allow her to return home to her children and grandchildren. Justice will be done.”
-Vanessa Potkin, Director of Special Litigation at the Innocence Project, and one of Melissa Lucio’s attorneys
-September 24, 2026
The majority opinion of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/39wjv4fy
The combined dissents of four CCA judges are available here: https://tinyurl.com/25rafst9
Judge Nelson’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/3z9jrwv4
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An overview of Melissa Lucio’s innocence case is below:
Melissa Lucio was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 after Mariah died from injuries sustained in an accidental fall down a steep outdoor staircase. On the night that Mariah died, Ms. Lucio repeatedly told the police that she did not kill her daughter. Over five hours, Ms. Lucio asserted her innocence 86 times verbally and 35 times non-verbally, but police refused to accept any response that was not an admission of guilt. Officers continued to interrogate her until she agreed, falsely, to take responsibility for some of her daughter’s injuries.
Ms. Lucio suffered a lifetime of sexual abuse and domestic violence, which made her especially vulnerable to the police’s coercive interrogation tactics. Ms. Lucio had no history of violence toward her children or anyone.
Ms. Lucio was scheduled for execution on April 27, 2022. Compelled by strong evidence of her innocence, a bipartisan group of more than 80 members of the Texas House of Representatives opposed her execution. Hundreds of Texas anti-domestic violence groups, Baptist, Evangelical and Catholic leaders, Latino organizations, exonerees of wrongful convictions, and Ms. Lucio’s children also urged the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Governor Abbott to grant her clemency.
The CCA stayed Ms. Lucio’s execution on April 25, 2022 and ordered the 138th Judicial District Court of Cameron Country to consider new evidence of her innocence.
On January 11, 2023, the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office and attorneys for Ms. Lucio jointly filed Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law asking the district court to find that the prior District Attorney, Armando Villalobos, suppressed favorable, material evidence showing Ms. Lucio’s innocence, and that there was a reasonable probability the outcome of Ms. Lucio’s capital murder case would have been different if this evidence had been disclosed and heard by the jury.
On April 12, 2024, Judge Nelson recommended that the CCA overturn Ms. Lucio’s conviction and death sentence on the claim that the State suppressed favorable, material evidence in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brady v. Maryland (Claim 5) and held Ms. Lucio’s other claims in abeyance. On June 19, 2024, the CCA ordered the trial court to make findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommendation addressing each of Ms. Lucio’s initially-remanded claims on the merits.
On October 16, 2024 Judge Nelson found, based on the evidence at trial and new evidence since the trial, that Ms. Lucio was actually innocent, did not kill her daughter, and ruled in her favor on all claims. The court concluded, “no rational juror would convict Ms. Lucio.”