The Texas court of criminal appeals has issued a stay of execution for Melissa Lucio

the Mexican-American woman who was set to be judicially killed within 48 hours

ordering a lower court to consider new evidence 

of her innocence in the death of her two-year-old daughter Mariah.

The court issued its order on Monday as the final clock was ticking on Lucio’s transfer to the death chamber.

She would have been the first Hispanic woman executed by Texas.

New evidence presented by Lucio’s legal team in a 266-page petition suggested that

the murder of her toddler daughter had never even happened.

Medical and eye-witness evidence pointed towards Mariah having died

 after accidentally falling down a steep flight of stairs at Lucio’s rental home.

In a statement, Lucio thanked the court of criminal appeals for giving her the chance “to live and prove my innocence.

Mariah is in my heart today and always.”