There is strong evidence supporting Melissa’s claims that she is innocent. As one of the female judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit observed, “A battered woman was convicted of capital murder because, in a case lacking direct evidence, prosecutors told the jury that, five hours into interrogation, in the middle of the night after the discovery of her dead child, [Melissa] accepted a seasoned interrogator’s suggestion that she was responsible, ultimately agreeing with him that she “did it.”
We believe Melissa is innocent of the crime for which she was convicted. Intersectional discrimination played a huge role in her trial, where she was portrayed as a bad mother alongside gendered stereotypes that disregarded her history of trauma.
Please, consider signing this petition on Melissa’s behalf and posting on social media using the toolkit linked below:
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