Melissa Lucio

Case details

Melissa Elizabeth Lucio was convicted of capital murder for the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. The case involved the beating death of Mariah Alvarez in 2007.

The offence

Lucio told authorities that Mariah Alvarez had fallen down some stairs. Emergency room physicians found bruises covering her body, bite marks on her back, an arm that had been broken weeks earlier, and missing hair that had been pulled by the roots from her head. An autopsy showed that the girl had been beaten on her head and that the injuries were not caused by a fall down some stairs.

Mariah Alvarez had lived in foster care after being placed there for 2 years, and she lived with her mother for 88 days after living for 2 years in foster care. Prosecutors described a long list of bruises and lacerations, including a broken arm, suffered during those 88 days. Assistant DA Maria De Ford asked jurors to use their common sense and review the long list of bruises, lacerations and even a broken arm Mariah suffered during the 88 days she lived with her mother after living for 2 years in foster care. De Ford said: "It was no accident." She added: "She beat her; she stomped her; she threw her. … She pinched her little vagina. What kind of mother does this?"

A Harlingen detective testified that he overheard Lucio admit that she was responsible for the beating death of her 2 1/2-year-old daughter. Officer Robert Muoz testified that he and another officer were driving Lucio and her husband to a Brownsville dentist and that Lucio was allowed to make a call on a cell phone at that time. Muoz testified he heard Lucio say: "Don't blame Robert. This was me. I did it."

Investigation

An autopsy showed that Mariah Alvarez had been beaten on her head and that the injuries were not caused by a fall down some stairs.

Harlingen Police Detective Rebecca Cruz was in charge of all the evidence in the case. Gilman asked Cruz whether any tests were made on soft drink cans, a spoon with alleged cocaine residue and baking soda found together in an apartment on Madison Avenue in Harlingen. Lucio and her family had vacated the apartment. Police searched it and the apartment on West Lee Street where Mariah was found dead by police and paramedics, but no laboratory tests were ordered of the alleged drug residue visible in police photos. Cruz also admitted hair and fingernail clippings taken from Lucio were never sent to a laboratory for testing. Neither Lucio nor her husband was tested for drugs, as Gilman stated. No dental impressions were taken from any of the older children in the family, as Gilman was told.

Texas Ranger Victor Escalon Jr. testified that when he helped interview Lucio at the Harlingen police station the evening after the toddler died, Lucio changed her story until she admitted beating the girl to death. Under questioning by Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, Escalon testified that Lucio was given a child's baby doll to demonstrate what she had done and showed how she beat the child on the back of the head and shook her violently from side to side. Escalon admitted the only proof he had was from Lucio's admissions during questioning at the police station from 10 p.m. to about 3:30 a.m.

Gilman challenged Escalon in court. Gilman said loudly to the ranger: "You're adding things other than what the video shows." He added: "You're just making that up. That's a bunch of baloney. She didn't say she shook (Mariah) from side to side. You don't have any evidence of Melissa shaking Mariah or throwing her."

CPS caseworker Jo Ann Estrada testified that she was not completely familiar with the background of the case but had worked extensively with the family after the 2007 death of Mariah. Estrada refuted Gilman's claims that some of Lucio's older children were unruly and hard to handle by foster parents. Gilman questioned why CPS was trying to permanently revoke Lucio's parental rights but at the same time arranged parental visits with her children, including weekly visits with her newborn twins. Estrada said CPS was complying with a court order.

Arrest

On February 18, 2007, Lucio was arrested by the Harlingen Police Department.

Trial

A week-long jury trial occurred, with Lucio convicted on July 8. Jury finds Lucio guilty of capital murder for killing Mariah Alvarez on Feb. 17, 2007.

During trial, the jury was polled and individually told Judge Arturo Cisneros Nelson that they had voted to find the Harlingen mother guilty of capital murder for killing Mariah Alvarez on Feb. 17, 2007. The trial included punishment phase proceedings discussed for the day after the guilty verdict.

Chief 1st Assistant Charles E. Mattingly Jr. said: "A jury of 12 good and true citizens of Cameron County has decided the fate of a convicted capital murderer." Mattingly added: "Justice was sought in this case and justice has been delivered."

Sentencing

Lucio was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection in the 13th Judicial District Court. District Attorney Armando Villalobos announced that he would seek the death penalty as the punishment phase began at 9 a.m. Villalobos said: "When we started the case, that's why we had to go through three weeks of (individual interviews of potential jurors)," declining to comment further.

Lead defense attorney Peter Gilman said it was not true that Lucio had confessed to a Texas Ranger that she had beaten her daughter to death. During his final argument, Gilman said: "They think they got a confession." He added: "Nowhere in that statement does it say, I killed my child.' … Three doctors testified that she could have died from blunt force head trauma by falling down the stairs."

Gilman also argued about what Lucio told police. He said: "My client is not up for Mother of the Year. She's guilty of child abuse," and "But they haven't proved she intentionally murdered her child."

Harlingen Police Detective Rebecca Cruz testified about evidence handling and related issues during the trial.

Sonia Chavez, Lucio's younger sister, told a reporter after the court session ended Tuesday that she found it curious that the courtroom was filled with Child Protective Service workers during the entire trial. Chavez said: "When we were conducting the funeral (for Mariah), there were lots of CPS people there," and "Why were they all here and at the funeral when there are so many children who need protection and families that need help?"

Chavez also said a Harlingen police detective was lying when he testified that he had heard Lucio say during a cellular phone call that it was she, not her husband, who killed Mariah. Chavez said: "She was making that call to me," and "(Lucio) never said those things he said she did."

The sentencing was described as occurring in the 13th Judicial District Court in Cameron County, and Lucio was to be confined at Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito until transferred in two to four weeks to the Mountain View Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Institutional Division in Gatesville.

Lucio was the first female in Cameron County history to be sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Appeals

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction and death sentence.

Outcome

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction and death sentence of Melissa Elizabeth Lucio.

Aftermath

Lucio's husband, Robert Antonio Alvarez, 37, was to stand trial separately for injury to a child by omission, prosecutors said.