In a highly unusual decision, the state’s highest criminal court has exonerated Carmen Meija of the infanticide that resulted in her conviction from a Travis County jury in 2005.
The highly conservative Texas Criminal Court of Appeals issued an opinion Thursday declaring that Meija was “actually innocent” in the killing of 10-month-old Abelardo Casiano, an infant she was babysitting at the time. The rare decision by the high court affirms a prior decision by the trial court in which Meija was convicted and clears the way for the woman, who has spent the past two decades in prison, to apply for restitution from the state.
Over the past two years, attorneys for Meija have argued in post-conviction hearings that prosecutors introduced false and misleading testimony at trial and newly available scientific methods proved that Casiaono, who was submerged in a bathtub full of scalding water, died by accident. Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, elected in 2020 partly on a commitment to clear the names of wrongly convicted people, was sympathetic to Meija’s claims…