Melissa Lucio gets a life... sentence, that is, for taking her 2yr old's life.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

For the first time ever a woman has been sentenced to the death penalty in Cameron County.

Convicted murderer, Melissa Lucio from Harlingen was sentenced to death in a Brownsville courtroom.

The jury sentenced Lucio to death by lethal injection.

After a few hours of deliberating, the jury unanimously sentenced 39-year old, mother of 14 kids, Melissa Lucio to death, for brutally beating and killing her two and a half year old, daughter, Mariah.

Jurors found that Lucio would continue violent behavior, and could be a continuing threat to society.

As her sentence was read, Lucio stood quietly with her head down, making no eye contact.

http://www.kveo.com/news/local/24406709.html

The toddler was killed in the woman's home last year. An autopsy showed 2-year-old Mariah died from a blow to the head and had cocaine in her system at the time of her death.

Lucio's husband, Robert Alvarez, is already in jail for baby Mariah's death, but he's only been charged with injury to a child. He could face up to life in prison when his trial starts in August.

http://www.newschannel5.tv/2008/7/10...g-Her-Daughter

Dr. Alfredo Vargas testifed during the capital murder trial 2 1/2-year-old Mariah Alvarez, died from blunt force trauma injuries on Feb. 17, 2007.

Her body was covered with new and old bruises, contusions and bite marks. She was dehydrated and small for her age, he said.

"I've never seen anything like this in 30 years," the doctor testified. "This is the absolute worst I've ever seen."

Lucio at first told officers that she did not know how Mariah Alvarez received fatal injuries, but later admitted she had spanked the child on several occasions.

At one point, Child Protective Service workers had removed the children from her home from 2004 to 2006.

During his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Alfredo Padilla said X-rays showed a spiral fracture of one of Mariah Alvarez's arms that had healed on its own without medical treatment.

Although Lucio said she "loved her daughter," she admitted losing her temper when her children became "hyper."

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...io_doctor.html

A detective testified that he overheard Melissa Elizabeth Lucio admit that she was responsible for the beating death of her 2 1/2-year-old daughter.

Officer Robert Muñoz testified that he and another officer were driving Lucio and her husband to a Brownsville dentist and that Lucio was allowed to make a call on a cell phone at that time.

He said he heard Lucio say, "Don't blame Robert. This was me. I did it."

Lucio and her husband Roberto Antonio Alvarez were to have casts made of their teeth, to compare to bite marks found on Mariah's back, the officer said.

No dental impressions were taken from any of the older children in the family.

Texas Ranger Victor Escalon Jr. testified that when he helped interview Lucio at the Harlingen police station the evening after the toddler died, Lucio changed her story until she admitted beating the girl to death.

Under questioning by Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos, Escalon testified that Lucio was given a child's baby doll to demonstrate what she had done and showed how she beat the child on the back of the head and shook her violently from side to side.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...ive_lucio.html

VIDEO: http://www.kveo.com/news/local/24406...?video=YHI&t=a

At 39 with 14 kids and previous CPS charges, this woman was just a ticking time bomb. Someone should have clocked her long ago.

No word on when the sign-up sheets will be put up for those interested in pushing the plunger. I'm also searching for the address to send "Thank You" cards to the jurors.

[SNOOKIE]

what a bitch-fry twat fry!!!!

[Ruby]

OMG, all I can think about is "WHERE ARE THE OTHER 13 CHILDREN?" It breaks my heart that they are probably separated and all over the place with little or no relationship any more because of this fuckwad of a mother. Poor little kids. Damn. I hope some of them are old enough to try to keep contact between the rest of them. :(

[Gilbrit]

FINALLY!
If only all courts would pass down judgments like this.
The death of a child should be punished as if it were a death of an adult.
Too many times the killer of children are getting watered-down sentances.

[ImmortalOne]

I am happy to see that a penalty such as this was taken for someone killing their own child. It was honestly about damn time. Too bad it might be another 10 years before they actually follow through...

On the other hand, I don't understand how any parent can let their child go untreated medical. Not a single moment. My 10yr old broke her arm this weekend, and she was taken to the ER then the Ortho doctor. I just can't fathom how these people cannot seek medical care for their child. I couldn't make sure she had enough proper care.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

About time. Over a year later and he is finally on trial. It started earlier but was stopped to see if he was competent. He is.

Testimony in the trial of a Harlingen father accused of injuring his daughter by not providing medical care to her resumed Tuesday, nearly a week after it was delayed pending a test to determine if he was competent to stand trial.

Roberto Antonio Alvarez, 30, is standing trial on charges of causing serious bodily injury to his daughter, 2 ½-year-old Mariah Alvarez, and failing to seek medical care for her after she was injured.
[...]

Because the competency issue was brought up during the trial, state statutes required the trial be stayed or put on hold and the person on trial be tested for competency.

Testifying on Tuesday was psychologist Dr. John Pinkerman.

Pinkerman testified that Alvarez ranged from 66 to 79 on a variety of IQ tests administered to him, ranging from his verbal comprehension to perceptional reasoning.

The psychologist testified that Alvarez’s comprehension of math, reading and spelling were on a fourth-grade level.

Alvarez’s reading and comprehension abilities were brought up to determine if he understood the Miranda rights that were to read to him when he gave a statement to police, regarding his daughter’s death.
[...]

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...d-alvarez.html

Roberto Antonio Alvarez, 39, testified that he didn’t see the bruises on 2 ½-year-old Mariah Alvarez’s body, until he tried to perform cardio pulmonary resuscitation or CPR on her the night that she died.

"I tried to do CPR on her. I don’t know if I was doing it right. I figured I had to do something," Alvarez testified.

"When I picked up her shirt I saw bruises on Mariah’s chest," Alvarez testified. "I told Melissa (Lucio, the child’s mother) what did you do. She didn’t say anything."
[...]

Alvarez testified that he repeatedly asked Lucio if his daughter was okay and that she replied yes. Because he believed what Lucio said, he never thought to question her.

"You think that when you are with somebody for so long, you believe them," Alvarez testified.

Hours before Mariah died, Alvarez testified that he sensed something was not right with his daughter. He had been out running errands and when he returned home, he said, "It hit me. I felt like something was wrong."

"Something told me to go and check on her," Alvarez testified.

When he went to check on Mariah he noticed she was not breathing, he further testified. He picked her up from the bed, placed her on the ground and started performing CPR.

"Everything happened so fast. I was all freaked out. Nothing happened (when I started CPR.) She was just there," Alvarez testified.

Harlingen EMS and police, after receiving an emergency call of a child in cardiac arrest, responded to an apartment on Lee Street in Harlingen, where the child lived when she died. Upon arrival emergency personnel found the child on the floor. She was not breathing.

According to Alvarez’s statement to police, which was previously read in court, he went to check on his daughter as she slept. He noticed she was pale and not breathing, the statement reads. He grabbed the child in his arms, put her down and started to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the child, until EMS paramedics arrived.

Also in his statement, Alvarez stated: "I felt if I had taken her to the doctor she would be alive today."

Alvarez testified that he made that statement the morning after his daughter died while being questioned by police.

"I’m still trying to figure out what happened," he testified.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...-daughter.html

[Deep down fear]

I'm so glad that the death penalty was assigned to this case. Still can't figure out what warrented the death penalty on this case. No guys, I agree she should die for her crimes, I just don't understand why this mother inparticular, recieved the death penalty. This is not the first child murder case we have heard of regarding a mother brutally beating their child, and I'm sure it won't be the last, but we have read of the same or worse cases here on DD. Baby P's mother, Tesslyn O'Cull case, Brianna Lopez case, Nadine Lockwood case, the baby that was left in his car carrier for 8 days to starve case, I'm just wondering why the death penalty is not warrented in all these cases. It would sure as hell ensure that this person never commits this crime again.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A Harlingen father convicted of causing serious bodily injury to his young daughter by failing to provide medical care was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in state prison.

Roberto Antonito Alvarez stood trial on charges of causing serious bodily injury to 2 ½-year-old Mariah Alvarez and failing to seek medical care for her after she was injured. She later died.

A Cameron County jury deliberated for about two hours on Tuesday before assessing the sentence against Alvarez, 39. Minutes later state District Judge Benjamin Euresti Jr. officially sentenced him.

However, Alvarez will only spend two years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system. Euresti credited Alvarez for time incarcerated in county jail while awaiting trial. He has been behind bars since Feb. 17, 2007.
[...]

Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos said he was disappointed in the sentence, although pleased with the jury’s decision of finding Alvarez guilty on the charge of injury to a child by reckless omission.

The district attorney’s office asked the jury to sentence Alvarez to the maximum allowed under the Texas Penal Code, which is 20 years in state prison.

Villalobos said he had hoped the jury would remember that a young child died as a result of Alvarez’s reckless omission. However, Villalobos added he respected the jury’s decision.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...sentenced.html

[Silvahalo]

I never saw this case here. I was rather new to dd at the time.

I have a friend who know's this bitch personally, was part of the process in getting CPS involved, during 2004-06 when the children were removed by CPS. This is what my friend Mari had to say on this baby killer.

she deserve ….everthing she gets…..this womem is a monster….death

I concur. Absolutely, the bitch deserves death. IF she couldn't handle the kids when they got "hyper", bitch should have stopped opening those damn legs.

During closing statements the prosecution painted a gruesome picture about Mariah’s last days.

“Baby girl you are gong to die a terrible death, no one is going to help you, you are going to lay there struggling to breathe for hour after hour," said De Ford.

In his closing argument, Stapleton defended Alvarez saying the prosecution was trying to convict a poor man who is not very educated and who is being accused of a crime he didn't commit.

“There is such a tragic thing like a death of a baby we still have to unveil the guilty and not the innocent and I wanted to show he was innocent," said Stapleton.

A decision was not reached by the jury, they were dismissed until Monday, when

The "father" is NOT innocent. He could have stopped the abuse, punched the living daylight out of that woman. I think the sentence is a joke. I don't care how uneducated he was HE knew baby girl was being abused, suffering, tormented by that woman. HE deserves a life sentence in a dark pit, what a pathetic excuse for a father.

Rest in peace baby Mariah Alvarez. You deserved a fair chance at life to be protected, loved and cherished completely.

[Tundratot]

Bitch's appeal shut down:

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has refused to overturn the conviction of Harlingen mom Melissa Elizabeth Lucio, who was convicted of capital murder in the death of her toddler.

In its opinion handed down today, the higher court wrote that it found "no reversible error" and affirm the trial court’s judgment. . . . .

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...ddler-mom.html

GOOD!!

[Darsa]

poor man who is not very educated

That's a shit-ass defense if I ever saw one. "Yer honor, he's stupid so he's innocent!" Oy...

[Tundratot]

A Harlingen woman on Texas’ death row convicted of murdering her child in 2007 has exhausted the state appellate process and is now appealing her conviction in federal court.

Melissa Elizabeth Lucio, now 44 years old, was convicted in 2008 of capital murder in state district court in Brownsville in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Records show that Lucio has exhausted appeals before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Her state file is slated to be stored Jan. 31, the record shows.

The federal record states that Senior U.S. District Judge Hilda G. Tagle recently appointed attorney Margaret Schmucker to represent Lucio in federal court in Brownsville. . . .

The child’s father, Roberto Antonio Alvarez, was convicted of causing serious bodily injury to his daughter by failing to provide medical care for her. He was sentenced in November 2009 to four years in prison, although he received credit for time served since his February 2007 arrest.

In the court system, Lucio is known as No. 999537.

http://www.valleymorningstar.com/new...9bb30f31a.html

Yeah, bitch, keep on trying. Each loss brings you closer to death.

But him, is he out already? The paper doesn't say he is, but it would seem like he could be.

[AngelFire]

I hope that with every attempt she makes to get out of prison and fails, that she loses hope fast. Sort of like the hope her poor baby didn’t have being born to this horrid monster. I have no sympathy for his crazed animal, none.