The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Melissa Lucio a stay of execution on Monday and ordered a court to consider new evidence in her case, just 48 hours before she was scheduled to be put to death.
Lucio was told the news in an emotional phone call with Texas Rep Jeff Leach where the Hispanic mother-of-14 sobbed and gasped, asking “are you serious?”
In a statement, the 53-year-old thanked God for saving her life and paid tribute to her late daughter Mariah who “is in my heart today and always”.
Lucio’s attorneys and supporters also celebrated the ruling including Kim Kardashian who called it the “best news ever”.
The last-minute stay came minutes before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was to recommend whether or not Lucio’s death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment or if she should be granted a 120-day execution reprieve. The parole board said it would not recommend clemency after the stay was announced.
Lucio was sentenced to death for the 2007 murder of her two-year-old daughter Mariah.
Her lawyers say she was coerced into a false confession during an aggressive police interrogation and that scientific evidence shows Mariah died from a fall.
