THANK GOODNESS! Melissa Lucio Granted Stay of Execution by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

[elleng]

21. An order for consideration of new evidence is pretty darn close to a 'hew trial.'

*At trial, prosecutors argued Lucio was an abusive mother who likely caused the injuries that brought about her daughter’s death. But Lucio and her attorneys said Mariah’s injuries stemmed not from abuse but from a fall down a staircase outside the family’s second-floor apartment two days prior to her death.

Of the nine claims Lucio raised in her habeas application, the appellate court ordered the trial court to consider four of them, including her assertions she is innocent and new scientific evidence precludes her conviction. Lucio also argued the state relied on false testimony and suppressed evidence favorable to her defense. . .

According to Lucio’s attorneys, the trial court in Brownsville will hold proceedings to hear the evidence of Lucio’s innocence. The court would then make a recommendation to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will ultimately decide whether Lucio should receive a new trial, Tivon Schardl, one of Lucio’s attorneys, said at a virtual news conference Monday.

“There’s still a long way to go in Melissa’s case, and there’s much more that stands in the way of Melissa and an exoneration,” said Vanessa Potkin, the director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, whose attorneys are also working on Lucio’s case.

“But today’s stay and remand to have hearings on new evidence of her innocence really opens the door to the potential of a new trial in her case,” Potkin told reporters, “and ultimately, complete vindication.”'>>>

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/us/melissa-lucio-stay-of-execution/index.html