Melissa Elizabeth Lucio
Texas resident
On death row
Robert Antonio Alvarez
Death (stay of execution issued on April 25, 2022)
Early life[edit]
Melissa Lucio was born in Lubbock, Texas,[2] on June 18, 1969, according to court records. Her father died when she was an infant, and the family moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where her mother had grown up, when she was a toddler.[3] Lucio says she was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend for about two years, beginning when she was seven years old. Lucio was married at the age of 16 and had her first five children with Guadalupe Lucio. She stated that he was often addicted to drugs and alcohol and was physically abusive. Lucio then had seven children with Robert Alvarez. Two more children (twins) were born while she was imprisoned.[4]
In popular culture[edit]
A 2020 documentary by Sabrina Van Tassel titled The State of Texas vs. Melissa follows Lucio's case. It played at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020, and won best documentary at the Raindance Film Festival.[28]
On March 6, 2022, in the main segment of an episode of the HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver called "Wrongful Convictions", her case was the main one to be mentioned as a reason for the reform of the American justice system and specifically, the abolition of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA).[29] On April 17, 2022, in the main segment of another episode, called "Police Interrogations", Lucio's case was mentioned again as having every hallmark of a false confession.[30]