The story of Melissa Lucio, the woman on death row in Texas

Brut America

The first Hispanic woman on death row, Melissa Lucio stands accused of murdering her daughter.   But as filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel investigated the case, she found there was more to the story …

Transcript

00:00My name is Melissa Elizabeth Lucio, I'm 48 years old, I'm the first hispanic woman on death row.

00:08You can only be on death row if you're poor, black, hispanic, or mentally disabled.

00:16If you are not one of these four, you know, things, you will never be on death row.

00:30She was convicted because of what she represents. She was someone that, you know, America did not

00:42want. The only thing that got Melissa Lucio on death row is her coarse confession. She was accused

00:52of murdering her daughter, her two-year-old daughter, abusing her for weeks, months, until

01:01she passed away. Basically what they were doing is they were trying to make me admit that I was

01:09the one responsible for her fall. The interrogation continued for maybe six, six, seven hours

01:17until three o'clock in the morning. This is your chance to set it straight because right now it

01:22looks like capital murder. Right now it looks like you're a cold-blooded killer.

01:27Now were you a cold-blooded killer or were you a frustrated mother who just took it out on her?

01:32We knew somebody did it. We're trying to find out who did it. If it wasn't you, I don't think

01:37somebody crept in there at the middle of the middle of the night and went up to your child

01:41and specifically singled her out so he could bite her on the back. Please forgive me. It happens,

01:48okay? We all make mistakes. We all make mistakes. We all get upset. We already know what happened.

01:55We already know what happened. It was only a four-day trial. So for four days she only had

02:01people testifying against her. The kids kept saying that she had fallen down the stairs,

02:06but nobody listened to the kids. And the kids were not even, you know, asked to testify at

02:11trial. So all the jury saw were horrible pictures of a dead bruised child and a mother who admitted.

02:22I started the film with everything that is against her. Her coerced confession,

02:30the pictures of the child, her past. She was not a perfect mom. She was a very flawed character.

02:39She was someone who had been sexually abused when she was a child. She had been systematically

02:46abused by the men in her life. And she was someone who had a history of drug abuse. And she had way

02:52too many children. So all that combined was just completely worked against her. And people were

03:00just like, okay, let's get rid of Melissa Lucio. I went down to Gatesville in Texas

03:07and to find her family. And I managed to find them. And when I saw them the very first time,

03:15they said to me, you're the first person who has come to ask us any question about Melissa in 13

03:21years. I investigated the political part. And I found out that the DA in her case, Armando Villa

03:29Lobos, was in the middle of, it was election year. And he was actually in turmoil because he had

03:38problems, you know, with other cases. So he needed, you know, something big, something big, you know,

03:45to save his reputation and be reelected. Now, Armando Villa Lobos was investigated by the FBI.

03:53And he was sentenced to prison. He is serving 13 years as we speak. And he was someone known

04:06for bribing judges, bribing lawyers, getting rich people to pay him. And the poor people

04:13would be the statistics that he needed. Right now, her last hope is the U.S. Supreme Court.

04:20A cert petition was filed. And we are waiting for an answer. Out of all the places that have

04:27the death penalty in the U.S., Texas is by far the state that executes the most.

04:33And they have an amazing number of people on death row. And they will do everything

04:41for them to be executed. So getting someone out of death row is very hard, almost impossible.

04:50So we hope that the Supreme Court is going to hear the case of Melissa Lucio. If they don't,

04:58because they only hear like about 1 percent of all cases, it will be up to the public to,

05:07you know, have the name of Melissa Lucio, you know, known to as many people as possible.

05:15No, we do not want to execute an innocent woman.

05:19And yes, we need to end the death penalty because there are many Melissa Lucios.

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