KTBB News, Weather, Talk

HOUSTON (AP) — 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.

Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson concluded 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. He recommended that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned.

“This Court finds (Lucio) has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder,” Nelson wrote in a 62-page ruling he signed in October but was not made public until Thursday.

Lucio has long maintained she is innocent and her daughter Mariah died of a head injury sustained in an accidental fall down a steep staircase two days before her death.

Nelson’s recommendation has been sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final decision in Lucio’s case. There was no timetable for a ruling by the appeals court. Lucio’s case has garnered support from celebrities like Kim Kardashian and a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

“This is the best news we could get going into the holidays,” John and Michelle Lucio, Melissa Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, said in a statement. “We pray our mother will be home soon.”

Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said Lucio was “sent to death row for a crime that never happened.”

The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Lucio, didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Lucio, 56, had been set for lethal injection in April 2022 for the 2007 death of her daughter in Harlingen, a city of about 71,000 in Texas’ southern tip. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted her lethal injection two days before her execution so Lucio’s claims that new evidence would exonerate her could be reviewed.

The appeals court had asked the trial court to review four claims made by Lucio’s lawyers: prosecutors used false testimony; previously unavailable scientific evidence would preclude her conviction; Lucio is actually innocent; and prosecutors suppressed evidence favorable to her.

In April, Nelson had approved an agreement between prosecutors and Lucio’s attorneys that found Lucio’s conviction should be overturned amid findings that evidence in her murder trial was suppressed. Prosecutors had previously maintained Mariah was the victim of abuse and noted her body was covered in bruises.

The appeals court sent the case back to Nelson in June, asking he also make recommendations in the other three claims.

Nelson found in favor of Lucio in the other three claims as well, including faulting prosecutors for presenting medical expert testimony that claimed the girl’s injuries could only have been caused by abuse and presenting “scientifically wrong testimony” from a Texas Ranger who claimed he could tell Lucio was guilty based on her demeanor and body language when interrogated.

HOUSTON (AP) — 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.

Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson concluded 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. He recommended that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned.

“This Court finds (Lucio) has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder,” Nelson wrote in a 62-page ruling he signed in October but was not made public until Thursday.

Lucio has long maintained she is innocent and her daughter Mariah died of a head injury sustained in an accidental fall down a steep staircase two days before her death.

Nelson’s recommendation has been sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final decision in Lucio’s case. There was no timetable for a ruling by the appeals court. Lucio’s case has garnered support from celebrities like Kim Kardashian and a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

“This is the best news we could get going into the holidays,” John and Michelle Lucio, Melissa Lucio’s son and daughter-in-law, said in a statement. “We pray our mother will be home soon.”

Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said Lucio was “sent to death row for a crime that never happened.”

The Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Lucio, didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Lucio, 56, had been set for lethal injection in April 2022 for the 2007 death of her daughter in Harlingen, a city of about 71,000 in Texas’ southern tip. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted her lethal injection two days before her execution so Lucio’s claims that new evidence would exonerate her could be reviewed.

The appeals court had asked the trial court to review four claims made by Lucio’s lawyers: prosecutors used false testimony; previously unavailable scientific evidence would preclude her conviction; Lucio is actually innocent; and prosecutors suppressed evidence favorable to her.

In April, Nelson had approved an agreement between prosecutors and Lucio’s attorneys that found Lucio’s conviction should be overturned amid findings that evidence in her murder trial was suppressed. Prosecutors had previously maintained Mariah was the victim of abuse and noted her body was covered in bruises.

The appeals court sent the case back to Nelson in June, asking he also make recommendations in the other three claims.

Nelson found in favor of Lucio in the other three claims as well, including faulting prosecutors for presenting medical expert testimony that claimed the girl’s injuries could only have been caused by abuse and presenting “scientifically wrong testimony” from a Texas Ranger who claimed he could tell Lucio was guilty based on her demeanor and body language when interrogated.

AUSTIN (AP) —The Onion’s winning bid for Alex Jones ’ Infowars platform is under review by a federal bankruptcy judge after Jones and his lawyers complained about how an auction was conducted.

The satirical news outlet was announced as the winning bidder on Thursday in an auction that is part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy. Hours later, Infowars headquarters in Austin, Texas and its websites were shut down and Jones was broadcasting from a new studio he had set up before the bankruptcy auction. By Friday morning, Infowars and its websites were back up and running for reasons that were not entirely clear.

At a hastily called court hearing in Houston on Thursday, Judge Christopher Lopez ordered another hearing to be held next week. He wants to know what happened with the auction and how the bankruptcy trustee chose The Onion over the only other bidder — a company affiliated with a Jones product-selling website.

A court hearing is typically held after a bankruptcy auction to finalize the winning bids and sales, and to hear any objections, so the process in Jones’ case hasn’t strayed far from the usual — yet.

Here’s a look at the bankruptcy auction and what could happen next:
Why was Infowars up for auction?

Jones declared personal bankruptcy in late 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut who sued him for defamation for repeatedly calling the massacre a hoax aimed at increasing gun control.

Relatives of some of the 20 first graders and six educators who were killed in the 2012 shooting said Jones’ followers harassed and threatened them as a result of his lies. Jones has since acknowledged the shooting was “100% real.”

As part of the bankruptcy, Jones’ personal assets and Infowars’ parent company, the Jones-owned Free Speech Systems, were to be sold at auction, with the Sandy Hook families and Jones’ other creditors getting the proceeds.
How The Onion was named the winning bidder

The bankruptcy trustee overseeing the sale chose from sealed bids. He received two.

One was from the Jones-affiliated First United American Companies, which offered $3.5 million, the trustee revealed in court Thursday. The other, from The Onion, was lower but contained an incentive by some of the Sandy Hook families to forgo a portion of the sale proceeds and give it to other Jones’ creditors, the trustee, Christopher Murray, said.

Murray said he determined The Onion’s offer, although unusual, was better overall, because it would provide more money to Jones’ creditors than the other bid. But he also said he could not yet put a dollar figure on The Onion’s bid when the families’ offer was factored in.

Judge Lopez indicated that he had expected prospective buyers would be given a chance to outbid each other after the bids were unsealed.

His 20-page order on the sale procedures in September, however, made such a bidding round optional. And it gave broad authority to Murray to conduct the sale, including the power to reject any bid, no matter how high, that was “contrary to the best interests” of Jones, his company and their creditors.
Infowars reopens after shutting down

Murray had Infowars’ website and studio shut down Thursday as he began the process of securing assets, a lawyer for the trustee said in court Thursday. But on Friday, Infowars and its websites were back up and running.

On his show, Jones told listeners that Murray had told him it was wrong to shut down Infowars before the sale was finalized. Murray and his lawyer did not immediately return phone messages and emails seeking comment.
What’s next in court?

The judge said he had concerns about the auction process and transparency. Both sides are expected to present evidence at next week’s hearing.

Jones and a lawyer for First United American Companies allege Murray improperly selected The Onion’s bid and unexpectedly changed the sale process Monday after the sealed bids were submitted, by deciding not to hold a round of bidding on Wednesday. They also questioned the legality of The Onion’s bid.

Murray said denied doing anything improper and said he followed the judge’s auction rules.

Lopez would rule on whether the trustee properly ran the auction and selected The Onion as the winning bidder. If not, the possibilities include reopening the sale and holding an auction where potential buyers could outbid each other. The judge has the ultimate authority to accept or reject any sale of Infowars.

An exact date for the hearing had not yet been scheduled by Friday afternoon.
What are The Onion’s plans for Infowars?

The Onion — which carries the banner of “America’s Finest News Source” on its masthead — was founded in the 1980s and for decades has skewered politics and pop culture. It hopes to reopen the Infowars website in January as a parody of Jones and other conspiracy theorists.

“Our goal in a couple of years is for people to think of Infowars as the funniest and dumbest website that exists,” Ben Collins, the Onion’s CEO, told The Associated Press. “It was previously the dumbest website that exists.”

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man charged with trying to provide material support to the Islamic State group and planning violent attacks in Houston appeared in federal court Thursday.

Anas Said is accused of offering his home as a safe sanctuary for members of ISIS and saying he wants to take part in a terrorist attack like 9/11, according to court records. Federal prosecutors allege Said had spent time planning and discussing committing attacks in Houston, where he lived, and had used the internet to research how to make explosives and use cellphones as remote detonators.

“He has created videos extolling the ‘virtue’ of ISIS, the violence and death brought by ISIS, and the need for the terror perpetrated by ISIS to continue,” according to court documents. “He is dedicated to his mission to provide material support to ISIS in whatever form that may take.”

Said, 28, was arrested last week and on Thursday pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Said, who authorities said was born in Houston but spent part of his childhood in Lebanon, will remain in federal custody.

Said has been on the FBI’s radar since 2017, said Douglas Williams Jr., special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston office.

“To those wannabe terrorists who believe they can hide behind encrypted apps or anonymous social media profiles, please understand that we will find you and we will hold you to account,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani.

Baldemar Zuniga, Said’s attorney, said in a statement that the allegations against his client revolve around providing support to ISIS only through videos and propaganda.

“Despite allegations that my client made statements to government agents regarding proposed terrorist acts, the indictment does not currently allege any planning, or acts of terrorism. This appears to be a lengthy investigation and it will take some time to sift through all of the evidence,” Zuniga said.

If convicted, Said faces up to 20 years in federal prison.