A Texas judge says that a mother who was previously convicted in 2008 of capital murder in the February 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter is 'actually innocent,' as Texas’s Court of Criminal Appeals can now decide on her release.

Melissa Lucio was two days away from being put to death in Texas for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter when an appeals court intervened in 2022. Now, a judge says Lucio never committed the crime at all.

In a court filing, the judge said the conviction of Melissa Lucio, whose scheduled execution in 2022 was halted, should be overturned. The state’s highest criminal court will now decide.

A death row inmate convicted of killing her toddler daughter is “actually innocent” of murder and should be freed from custody, the prisoner’s trial judge said in documents unearthed on Thursday.

Melissa Lucio may be set free after findings that prosecutors withheld evidence that her 2-year-old died of an accidental fall.

Judge Arturo Nelson said there was clear and convincing evidence that the death of Lucio’s 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, was caused by a fall.

Melissa Lucio was found guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, who died in 2007. A judge now says she's innocent.

Efforts to free Melissa Lucio, a Texas woman whose execution was delayed in 2022 amid growing doubts she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter, were significantly bolstered after a judge concluded that she is “actually innocent” of capital murder.