A bipartisan group of Texas legislators met with a South Texas mother on Wednesday (April 6) who is scheduled to be executed later this month for the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter, according to a report from Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.
The contingent – Reps. Joe Moody (D-El Paso), Jeff Leach (R-Plano), James White (R-Tyler), Lacey Hull (R-Houston), Toni Rose (D-Dallas) and VIctoria Neave Criado (D-Dallas) – prayed with death row inmate Melissa Lucio, according to Moody's official Twitter account.
"Today, I was led in prayer by #MelissaLucio," Moody shared in a tweet. "It was incredibly powerful. We’ve asked @GovAbbott to spare her. We’ve asked the Board to spare her. But we know that DEMOCRAT @DALuisVSaenz has the immediate power to spare her. I pray he makes the right decision."
Lucio awaits her fate at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facility in Gatesville.
According to KVUE, Moody said that he saw Lucio's story on TV almost a month ago and was moved.
The lawmaker said that Lucio hugged each lawmaker during the visit.
"Today might be the last genuine human contact she has before the state kills her," Moody tweeted. "Three more weeks is all we have to save her life."
Prosecutors in the case said that Lucio's daughter bore signs of abuse on her body, Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA reported.
Family members and supporters of Lucio; however, assert that the girl's death was an accident.
"We're not saying Miss Lucio is innocent," White said, according to WFAA. "We're not saying she's guilty. We're saying for the board to provide her some clemency, so we can get her into a trial."
Lucio's case is the subject of a documentary released on streaming platform Hulu last year and was a point of discussion in a March episode of HBO's "Last Week Tonight," KVUE and WFAA reported.
Reality star Kim Kardashian added her name to a petition calling for Lucio to be spared, according to the stations.
April 27 is when Lucio is slated to be put to death.