Apr 25, 2022 6:40 PM EDT
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution for 52-year-old Melissa Lucio, a woman who had been set to be the first Hispanic woman put to death by the state in modern history after being convicted of beating her 2-year-old daughter to death in 2007. Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, which is representing Lucio, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.
The following is an excerpt from the interview addressing how being a victim of childhood trauma was used against Melissa Lucio in the trial:
Amna Nawaz:
What about her own history of domestic and sexual abuse? How does that factor into this?
Vanessa Potkin, The Innocence Project:
Well, it's really egregious that not only was she the victim of childhood sexual abuse and trauma, and she had to endure that, and she's a survivor of those experiences, but those experiences were used against her.
She was judged by paramedics and police who responded to the scene who didn't think that she was acting like a stereotypical mother should, because she was detached, because some of the mechanisms that helped her survive her abuse kicked in and reflected her demeanor. And so that was used against her.
And it really was a disadvantage in the interrogation. We now know that trauma and a history of abuse is a vulnerability for false confession when these type of coercive interrogation techniques are used.
To read and listen to the entire interview, click here.
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