This Week: Texas Media Tour To #FreeMelissaLucio

Death Penalty Action
3 min readFeb 13, 2022

To help stop the execution of an innocent woman…

Starting Wednesday, Death Penalty Action will be traveling through THIRTEEN Texas media markets in the following seven days with John Lucio, Melissa’s son (in news photo above, with phone), Sonya Lucio, Melissa’s sister (above left), and Sabrina Van Tassel, the director of the film, The State of Texas vs. Melissa.

You Can Help Cover The Costs.

Because visibility is what builds a campaign. Our work is already creating huge impact. Here is an Associated Press photo from last Monday’s event, published in the Washington Post. As you can see, our signs ensure our message is clear regardless of what the reporters write.

​We will bring with us t-shirts, buttons, signs and banners to leave free-of-charge with activists who will use them to help build public attention in their areas to help #FreeMelissaLucio.

Our goal is to reach Texans who agree that no innocent person should be executed, and give them the tools to convey that message to Governor Abbott. Here’s where we’ll be: Brownsville, Laredo, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Houston, Wichita Falls, Dallas/Fort Worth, Abilene, Odessa/Midland, San Angelo, Waco and Austin.​

We need your help. We’ve raised a few thousand dollars $5 and $25 and $100 at a time. We’ve already invested all of that money and more into visibility tools and presence in Cameron County.

Now we need to take it statewide. In preparation, we’ve printed:

  • 400 bi-lingual handheld/yard signs — $3100
  • 240 t-shirts — $2100
  • 5 4'x10' banners — $1500
  • 5 banner frames — $250
  • 40 Innocence Challenge signs — $600
  • 10,000 handouts — $1000

On top of that, anticipated costs in the following ten days include

  • Plane tickets — $1200
  • Car rental — $1000
  • Fuel — $500
  • Food — $1000
  • Hotel rooms — $3500

This does not include staffing and leadership and all of the overhead costs of doing this work.

Please Help Cover The Costs.

In tandem with the efforts of the legal community, and with your support, we will make it more likely that our movement can stop this execution and save Melissa’s life. At the same time we will create significant damage to the popularity of the death penalty in Texas.

We have ten weeks from Wedesday. There is not a moment to lose.

​Thank you,

— abe

Abraham J. Bonowitz, Director

PS: Do you know anyone in any of the Texas media markets listed below? Please e-mail info@freemelissalucio.org or call/text 561–371–5204 to connect us with them.

PPS: Please support this trip and the work we are doing to build community​​ throughout Texas and beyond.

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Death Penalty Action

Death Penalty Action provides high visibility resources, leadership and support in order to stop executions.