QUOTES OF THE DAY: "Vanessa Potkin, one of the Innocence Project lawyers working on Ms. Mejia’s case, said on Tuesday, before the announcement from federal officials, that Ms. Mejia’s release would give her an opportunity to be reunited with her four children, of whom she has lost custody. “She lost her lawful status as a direct consequence of her wrongful imprisonment and she had no ability to renew her status and to maintain it,” Ms. Potkin said, adding that a deportation would “perpetuate the profound injustice” Ms. Mejia faced. In signing the order to dismiss the charges, Judge Wahlberg said on Monday that he wished the decision would be “the end of this tragedy” for Ms. Mejia."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On July 28, 2003, Ms. Mejia was home with her four children and babysitting a 10-month-old child, the organization said. While she was breastfeeding her youngest daughter, one of her children tried to bathe the baby, but the water heater in Ms. Mejia’s rental apartment lacked safety features, and the water quickly reached a scalding temperature. The baby received third-degree burns and later died from the injuries, the organization said. Testimony from a doctor and a law enforcement expert, who said they believed the child was held under water and that the burns were intentional, helped secure a conviction, Ms. Potkin said at a news conference on Monday. “That testimony just was flat-out wrong,” Ms. Potkin said. No medical burn expert had reviewed the case at the time of trial, she said. Additionally, recorded video statements of Ms. Mejia’s children corroborating her account that the child’s death was an accident went missing before the trial, the organization said."
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STORY: "Woman found innocent after 22 years in prison will not be deported, by Reporters Rylee Kirk, and Alexandra E. Petri, published by The New York Times. Times, on March 10, 2026. ("I am a reporter for The New York Times as a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers. I work for the Express desk, which focuses on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories, which could include mass shootings, celebrity deaths, wars or elections.")
SUB-HEADING: "Carmen Mejia was cleared of murder in connection with the death of a baby in her care who was scalded by hot water in Austin Texas, Federal officials said she will be allowed to stay in the U.S.
GIST: "A Texas woman who was declared innocent on Monday, after spending more than 22 years behind bars for a wrongful conviction in a child’s death, will be allowed to stay in the country, according to a press officer for the Homeland Security Department. She had faced a deportation threat because her immigration status lapsed while she was incarcerated, a judge and her lawyers said.
The woman, Carmen Mejia, 54, was convicted of murder and injury to a child in 2005 in connection with the death of a 10-month-old, who suffered third-degree burns from scalding bath water, while in Ms. Mejia’s care at her home in Austin in July 2003. The baby later died from the injuries. Ms. Mejia was sentenced to life in prison with parole but she had maintained her innocence.
On Monday, Judge P. David Wahlberg of Travis County dismissed the charges, formally declaring her innocent. In January, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, overturned Ms. Mejia’s previous conviction, citing new evidence that proved she was “actually innocent.”
But Ms. Mejia was not released from custody, owing to an immigration hold from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after her legal status expired while she was imprisoned, according to the Innocence Project, an advocacy organization that seeks to overturn wrongful convictions and which represented Ms. Mejia in her appeals case. She came to the United States from Honduras in 1995 and had lawful permission to live and work in the country before her conviction, the organization said.
“In light of her conviction being overturned, she will be released from local custody, and ICE will lift the detainer,” the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. “Due to her exoneration, she is legally allowed to remain in the U.S. until her Temporary Protected status expires.”
She was being held in the Travis County Correctional Complex, according to jail records.
The Trump administration has been arresting and detaining immigrants it seeks to deport in cities from Los Angeles to Minneapolis. In recent weeks, those operations had become more targeted after opposition to its aggressive tactics.
Vanessa Potkin, one of the Innocence Project lawyers working on Ms. Mejia’s case, said on Tuesday, before the announcement from federal officials, that Ms. Mejia’s release would give her an opportunity to be reunited with her four children, of whom she has lost custody.
“She lost her lawful status as a direct consequence of her wrongful imprisonment and she had no ability to renew her status and to maintain it,” Ms. Potkin said, adding that a deportation would “perpetuate the profound injustice” Ms. Mejia faced.
In signing the order to dismiss the charges, Judge Wahlberg said on Monday that he wished the decision would be “the end of this tragedy” for Ms. Mejia.
Judge Wahlberg urged federal authorities evaluating the case to consider Ms. Mejia’s lawful status and lack of criminal history, along with her years under incarceration, during which she remained in good standing. He added that Ms. Mejia did not have the financial resources or documentation to flee the country and was not a “flight risk.”
“I hope that all of those factors are taken into account when some federal authority looks at this, because a removal at this point would be compounding the tragedy that’s already occurred,” Judge Wahlberg said.
According to the Innocence Project, Ms. Mejia was granted Temporary Protected Status and legal authorization to work in the United States after fleeing abuse and poverty in her native Honduras.
On July 28, 2003, Ms. Mejia was home with her four children and babysitting a 10-month-old child, the organization said. While she was breastfeeding her youngest daughter, one of her children tried to bathe the baby, but the water heater in Ms. Mejia’s rental apartment lacked safety features, and the water quickly reached a scalding temperature. The baby received third-degree burns and later died from the injuries, the organization said.
Testimony from a doctor and a law enforcement expert, who said they believed the child was held under water and that the burns were intentional, helped secure a conviction, Ms. Potkin said at a news conference on Monday.
“That testimony just was flat-out wrong,” Ms. Potkin said. No medical burn expert had reviewed the case at the time of trial, she said.
Additionally, recorded video statements of Ms. Mejia’s children corroborating her account that the child’s death was an accident went missing before the trial, the organization said.
Ms. Mejia was convicted of felony murder, injury to a child and injury to a child by omission, according to court documents.
The Innocence Project took on Ms. Mejia’s case in 2021 after being contacted by Art Guerrero, the courtroom bailiff at the time of Ms. Mejia’s trial, the organization said.
New evidence considered in the case included a review of evidence by a medical burn expert and testimony from an expert in scalding injuries from hot water heaters. One of her children also testified that she was the one who had turned on the faucet and that Ms. Mejia was not in the bathroom at the time.
In 2024, the state’s witnesses from the initial prosecution swore in affidavits that they could no longer opine that the injuries were caused intentionally. The state’s medical examiner, who testified in the 2003 trial that the manner of death was a homicide, reversed the findings in 2025, ruling it accidental.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found Ms. Mejia innocent earlier this year and remanded the case to Travis County for dismissal.
Ms. Mejia’s daughters wrote impact statements that were submitted to the court for the hearing where the charges would be dismissed. One of her daughters, identified only as Anna, wrote that she and her family hope “that this moment will not only restore her freedom, but also begin to bring healing to our family after so many years of l
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
