Prosecutors say evidence was suppressed in case of Texas death row inmate Melissa Lucio

Melissa Lucio, a Texas woman whose execution was delayed in 2022 amid growing doubts she fatally beat her 2-year-old daughter, had evidence suppressed at her murder trial, according to prosecutors in the case, which has become a cause celebre among people including Kim Kardashian.

As part of an agreement on findings in Lucio’s case, prosecutors and her attorneys say the suppressed evidence, including witness statements and a report by Child Protective Services, would have corroborated Lucio’s defense that her daughter Mariah died of a head injury sustained in an accidental fall down a steep staircase two days before her death.

“She would not have been convicted in light of the suppressed evidence,” according to the 33-page agreement between the office of Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz and Lucio's attorneys. The document lays out what both sides say are agreed findings of fact and conclusions of law in the case.

The agreement, which recommends that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned, is being called unusual and extraordinary by one death penalty expert. But it has remained in limbo for 16 months before a Texas judge, who has yet to say whether she will give it her approval and forward it to the state’s highest criminal court, which would make a final decision.

Lucio, 55, 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 stayed her lethal injection two days before her scheduled execution so state District Judge Gabriela Garcia could review Lucio's claims that new evidence would exonerate her.

Prosecutors had long maintained Mariah was the victim of abuse and