The judge who presided over the murder trial of Melissa Lucio said she believes Lucio is “actually innocent” in the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah.

Lucio has been on death row in Texas since 2008. In 2022, the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution in the case. The Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the trial court to consider whether Lucio was actually innocent and whether prosecutors presented false testimony and suppressed evidence from the defense.

In April 2024, Nelson, who presided over the original trial, agreed that the former prosecutor illegally withheld favorable evidence that would have helped prove Mariah died from an accidental fall, not abuse, as he claimed the accusation.

New evidence suggested Mariah’s bruises were consistent with a brain injury from an accidental fall down the steps of the family home two days earlier, CBS News previously reported. Lucio and some of her children had recounted the downfall of the police and child protective services. Nelson ruled that this violated Lucio’s constitutional rights and recommended that the appeals court overturn Lucio’s conviction and death sentence.

Court papers released yesterday shows that in October, Nelson ruled that there was clear and convincing evidence that Mariah died from an accidental fall and said that Lucio “is actually innocent; she didn’t kill her daughter.”

“No rational juror could have convicted (Lucio) of murdering her daughter after hearing all the evidence from her original trial along with all the new evidence she presented,” Nelson wrote.

Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, who was not in office at the time of Lucio’s original trial, also agreed that the previous prosecution team suppressed evidence that could have supported Lucio’s innocence, according to a press release from the Innocence Project.

The case is now before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will decide whether to accept Nelson’s recommendation.

“This is the best news we could get over the holidays,” John and Michelle Lucio, Ms. Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, said in a statement shared by The Innocence Project. Along with Ms. Lucio’s son, Bobby Alvarez, they added: “We pray that our mother will be home soon.”

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