Is Melissa Lucio innocent? Kim Kardashian signs petition to save Texas mother from death row
Kim Kardashian is coming out in support of Texas death row convict Melissa Lucio, who is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, April 27. For several years, Kardashian, who is studying law, has fought for prison reform and spoken out against the death penalty. Recently, Kardashian made a plea to her 72 million followers regarding Lucio's case in a tweet, posting a letter signed by Lucio's children pleading with governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to save Lucio's life. She wrote on Twitter, "So heartbreaking to read this letter from Melissa Lucio’s children begging for the state not to kill their mother. There are so many unresolved questions surrounding this case and the evidence that was used to convict her."
According to NY Post, Kardashian also added, “This is one of the many reasons why I am against the death penalty — and why I pray her children’s wish is granted and their mother’s life is spared,” Kardashian claimed in a series of since-deleted tweets earlier this week that Lucio's 2-year-old daughter's death was a 'tragic accident' and that Lucio should not be killed for it. Kardashian also encouraged Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to halt the execution and urged her fans to sign an online petition supporting Lucio's release via the nonprofit Innocence Project.
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Meanwhile, Kardashian is studying law without attending a regular, state-accredited law school and just passed the California State Bar's First-Year Law Students' Exam, which is equivalent to one year of law school, according to the State Bar of California. She intends to continue studying before taking the California Bar Exam. Recently, Kardashian also lobbied for the pardon of Alice Marie Johnson's life sentence for a first-time criminal charge as the leader of a big cocaine operation in Tennessee.
So heartbreaking to read this letter from Melissa Lucio’s children begging for the state not to kill their mother. There are so many unresolved questions surrounding this case and the evidence that was used to convict her. pic.twitter.com/SjEtsfmZeq
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) April 7, 2022
Vanessa Potkin, the Director of Special Litigation of the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization located in New York that fights to free the innocent told the NY Post, “We are on the verge of sending a woman to an execution based on false and misleading medical evidence. “It’s egregious to be in a situation where we are days away from execution and there was never any credible evidence to convict her." The non-profit organization took up Lucio’s case in January.
This is one of the many reasons why I am against the death penalty - and why I pray her children’s wish is granted and their mother’s life is spared.
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) April 7, 2022
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has given prosecutors and the trial judge until next week to reply to the defense's request for new challenges. Melissa Lucio has been on Texas' execution row for the past 15 years after being convicted of capital murder in the death of her baby Mariah in 2007. She would be the first Latina executed in Texas in the modern era, as well as the first Texas woman executed in a decade. As per Lucio's relatives, there is no evidence of a murder. According to the Houston Chronicle, Mariah went down a rickety set of stairs while the family was packing to leave their Harlingen apartment. Two days later, they say, she died in her sleep during a nap. Earlier, a delegation of Texas politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties also paid a visit to Lucio.