The Texas Republican spearheading an extraordinary bipartisan effort to delay Wednesday’s execution of a Mexican American woman amid mounting evidence of her innocence has described the case as “the most troubling I’ve ever seen, possibly the most troubling in the history of our state”.
In an interview with the Guardian, Jeff Leach, a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, said that even strong supporters of the death penalty – as he once considered himself – had great concern about the rapidly approaching execution. Melissa Lucio, 52, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection for killing her two-year-old daughter Mariah, but new scientific evidence suggests the toddler died accidentally after a fall.
