德克萨斯州奥斯汀市——周四，德克萨斯州一家法院驳回了这样一项裁决：这名已在死囚名单上待了18年的女性并未犯有谋杀自己2岁女儿的罪行。这起案件引发了两党议员和名人的强烈呼吁，要求将她从监狱中释放。
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas court on Thursday rejected a ruling that a woman on death row for 18 years is innocent of capital murder in the killing of her 2-year-old daughter in a case that attracted bipartisan calls from lawmakers and celebrities to release her from prison.
德克萨斯州刑事上诉法院的这一分歧严重的裁决意味着梅丽莎·卢西奥仍将继续留在该州的死囚名单上。2022年，在她原定的注射死刑前两天，该法院下令重新审查她的案件，从而让她侥幸逃过了死刑。卢西奥的律师表示，他们将向联邦法院提起上诉。
The sharply divided decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals leaves Melissa Lucio on Texas’ death row, where she narrowly escaped execution in 2022 when the same court ordered a review of her case two days before her scheduled lethal injection. Lucio’s attorneys said Thursday they will now appeal her case to federal courts.
58岁的卢西奥因女儿玛丽亚的死亡被判处死刑；检方称玛丽亚头部遭受了严重伤害，原因是遭受了虐待。
Lucio, 58, was convicted of capital murder in the death of her daughter, Mariah, after the child sustained severe head trauma that prosecutors said came from abuse.
人们试图推翻对卢西奥的定罪，主要依据的是这样的主张：玛丽亚并非被殴打，而是在死亡前两天从陡峭的楼梯上意外摔落而受伤的。当上诉法院下令原审法院重新审查相关证据时，这些主张得到了支持。2024年，审理卢西奥案件的原审法官出具了一份62页的裁决，认定她“实际上无罪”。
Efforts to get Lucio’s conviction overturned focused on claims that the child wasn’t beaten but was injured in an accidental fall down a steep staircase two days before she died. They were bolstered when the appeals court ordered the trial court to review some of her claims. Her original trial judge then issued a 62-page ruling in 2024 that concluded Lucio was “actually innocent” of capital murder.
检方一直坚称玛丽亚是虐待的受害者，并指出她的身体上有多处淤伤。但原审法官在裁定卢西奥无罪的同时，也指出检方提供了虚假证词、隐瞒了关键证据；此外，一些在2008年审判时尚未被发现的新的科学证据也反驳了检方提出的论点。在卢西奥的上诉过程中，检方承认自己在审判中隐瞒了部分重要证据。
Prosecutors had long maintained Mariah was the victim of abuse and noted her body was covered in bruises. But the trial judge’s ruling on Lucio’s innocence also determined that prosecutors presented false testimony, suppressed evidence and that new scientific evidence that was not available during Lucio’s 2008 trial undermines and contradicts evidence presented by the state. Prosecutors had conceded during Lucio’s appeal that they had withheld material evidence in her trial.
然而，周四由全体共和党法官组成的上诉法院作出的多数意见认为，原审法官的裁决过于依赖卢西奥对自己所经历事件的描述，而忽视了检方的陈述。这份由五名法官共同签署的多数意见中，有四名法官表示反对。
But the majority opinion issued by the all-Republican appeals court on Thursday said the judge’s ruling relied too heavily on Lucio’s interpretation of events of the case and not the prosecution. The five-judge majority opinion was unsigned, and four judges dissented.
许多立法者以及知名人士，如致力于刑事司法改革的金·卡戴珊（Kim Kardashian）和阿曼达·诺克斯（Amanda Knox）——后者曾因在意大利谋杀一名英国学生而被判有罪，但后来罪名被撤销——都支持卢西奥（Lucio）的申诉。
Many lawmakers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, an advocate for criminal justice reform, and Amanda Knox— an American whose murder conviction in the death of a British student in Italy was overturned — had rallied to Lucio’s cause.
“无辜者项目”（Innocence Project）的特别诉讼部门负责人凡妮莎·波特金（Vanessa Potkin）同时也是卢西奥的律师之一，她表示她的法律团队将会继续上诉，甚至超越州法院的管辖范围。
Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said her legal team will appeal beyond state courts.
“我们将向联邦法院提起诉讼，并竭尽一切努力，确保梅丽莎（Melissa）——这位遭受了巨大痛苦的无辜母亲——不会因为一项根本不存在的罪行而被处决，”波特金说。
“We will proceed to federal court and do everything in our power to make sure Melissa ..., an innocent mother who has suffered unbelievably, is not executed for a crime that never occurred,” Potkin said.
如果卢西奥最终被证明无罪，她将成为德克萨斯州死囚名单上首位被宣告无罪的女性；自1976年死刑制度恢复以来，该州已有18名男性被宣告无罪。
If exonerated, Lucio would be the first woman declared innocent from Texas death row, joining 18 exonerated men since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
如果卢西奥最终仍被执行死刑，她将成为自1863年以来德克萨斯州处决的第一位拉丁裔女性，也是该州2014年以来处决的第一位女性。
If ultimately put to death, Lucio would be the first Latina executed by Texas since 1863, and the first woman the state has put to death since 2014