Melissa Elizabeth Lucio was previously convicted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah Alvarez in 2008.

A Texas judge is a mother’s “Innocent in fact” sentenced to death since 2008 for the death of his young child The decision regarding his release is currently in the hands of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Melissa Elizabeth Lucio He has been on death row for more than a decade after being sentenced to death in the February 2007 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Lucio’s lawyers argued that the girl’s death and injuries occurred when she accidentally fell down the stairs.

In April, Senior Judge Arturo Nelson called for Lucio’s conviction and death sentence to be overturned in a 33-page court document obtained by PEOPLE at the time. Evidence was suppressed at his trial.

Now, Nelson, who presided over the trial, is sharing a new verdict, signed two years after the mother’s execution, stating that Lucio, 56, was “essentially innocent” and “did not kill his daughter.” The October 16 document was made public this week. Innocence ProjectHe took up Lucio’s case.

Relating to: He Was Prepared To Be Executed At His Daughter’s Death. Prosecutors and the Judge Now Say It Was an Accident, Not Murder

Supported by advocates like Lucio Kim Kardashian – was originally scheduled to be executed on April 27, 2022, but his trial was halted due to alleged suppression of material evidence.

Following Nelson’s latest appeal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will decide whether to overturn the mother’s conviction and sentence.

“This is the best news we could have had heading into the holidays,” Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, John and Michelle Lucio, said in a statement released by the Innocence Project.

“We pray that our mother will be home soon,” they added.

According to Nelson’s decision, there was “clear and convincing evidence that Mariah fell down the stairs two days before she died, just as the Applicant told the police”, as well as evidence that “Mariah’s extensive bruises were not caused by the abuse but rather by a complication of the woman” . to fall.”

Nelson also found there was “clear and convincing evidence” that the girl’s “fatal head injury” resulted from the fall.

Relating to: A postponement of execution has been granted to a Texas mother on death row, and new evidence regarding the child’s death will be examined.

According to the decision, evidence that could prove that Mariah fell down the stairs two days before her death was withheld; these included interviews with Lucio’s other children, who said their sister had fallen down the stairs and that their mother was not an abuser. (Among the previously suppressed evidence was a Child Protective Services report detailing interviews with five of Lucio’s children.)

Some statements from Lucio’s children also said that their sister’s “health deteriorated” in the days between her fall and her death.

“The court finds that after several hours of police interrogation, during which the applicant initially claimed that he was innocent and did not know how his daughter died, he eventually told officers that he had slapped, pinched, and bit Mariah and admitted that he was ‘responsible’ for what happened,” the court said in the filing. “The court finds that the applicant never publicly admitted to causing the death of his daughter. The court finds that the applicant’s confessions were relied upon by the State as critical evidence proving the applicant’s guilt.”

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Nelson wrote last month that the court found that Lucio “met his burden and presented clear and convincing evidence that he was, in fact, innocent of the crime of capital punishment,” and explained that the state medical examiner in the murder case erred in concluding “physical guilt.” “The only explanation for the young girl’s death was abuse.”

Vanessa Potkin, special litigation director at the Innocence Project and Lucio’s attorney, said in a statement that her client “lived every parent’s nightmare when he lost his daughter following a tragic accident.”

he said CNN He stated that “there is no period within which the (Criminal Court of the Supreme Court) has to decide a case submitted to it.”

“Being sent to death row for a crime that never happened turned into a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from,” he added. “After 16 years on death row, it’s time for the nightmare to end. Melissa should be home with her children and grandchildren right now.”