sending the case back to the trial court to consider whether withholding the evidence had violated Lucio’s constitutional rights.
No fucking shit
In a dramatic reversal, the DA’s office now admits that Villalobos failed to disclose the exculpatory statements. /.../ Melissa Lucio was full of red flags, from a coerced interrogation and reliance on junk forensics to lackluster defense lawyering and prosecutorial misconduct. “I’ve been doing capital defense work in Texas for 30 years,” Sandra Babcock, a Cornell Law School professor who is now part of Lucio’s defense team, told The Intercept in 2022. “And this is by far the weakest capital case I’ve ever seen.”
Lucio was prosecuted by embattled District Attorney Villalobos, who used the case to boost his tough-on-crime reputation as part of his reelection campaign.
Apparently, prosecutors are elected in the US. :o
That aside, I cannot imagine a forensic scientist not telling the difference between bruises from a fall, and bruises from beating. Investigators not disclosing evidence to the defense is just plain criminal behaviour.
The only thing the woman should have done, in my opinion, would have been - taking their child to an emergency room for checking up. If there is reason to suspect a concussion, a person should be checked - because sometimes the brain starts swelling and that can lead to death or disability with a small delay - likely what happened in this case. Esecially if a person with a concussion feels a sudden need for sleep, they should tell others to not let themselves fall asleep, and find medical care without delay.
I hope that Lucio manages to rebuild something of her life after this ordeal.
Abolish is to flourish! Against the prison industrial complex and for transformative justice.
See Critical Resistance's definitions below:
The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.
Through its reach and impact, the PIC helps and maintains the authority of people who get their power through racial, economic and other privileges. There are many ways this power is collected and maintained through the PIC, including creating mass media images that keep alive stereotypes of people of color, poor people, queer people, immigrants, youth, and other oppressed communities as criminal, delinquent, or deviant. This power is also maintained by earning huge profits for private companies that deal with prisons and police forces; helping earn political gains for "tough on crime" politicians; increasing the influence of prison guard and police unions; and eliminating social and political dissent by oppressed communities that make demands for self-determination and reorganization of power in the US.
PIC abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.
From where we are now, sometimes we can't really imagine what abolition is going to look like. Abolition isn't just about getting rid of buildings full of cages. It's also about undoing the society we live in because the PIC both feeds on and maintains oppression and inequalities through punishment, violence, and controls millions of people. Because the PIC is not an isolated system, abolition is a broad strategy. An abolitionist vision means that we must build models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. It means developing practical strategies for taking small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and that lead us all to believe that things really could be different. It means living this vision in our daily lives.
Abolition is both a practical organizing tool and a long-term goal.