03/10/2026
There is hope in a wrongful conviction, in this case it took twenty two years to acknowledge that the state should have not charged Ms. Mejia
Today, Carmen Mejia was exonerated after Travis County District Court Judge P. David Wahlberg dismissed a 2003 murder charge against her, following a ruling from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) — the state's highest criminal court — overturning her convictions and finding that new evidence established that Ms. Mejia is "actually innocent."
The CCA's decision on Jan. 22, 2026 found Ms. Mejia actually innocent of the death of a 10-month-old infant in her care who was critically burned from scalding bathwater due to a water heater in her rental home that lacked safety technology. Ms. Mejia has spent the last 22 years in prison for what the State claimed to be murder but now agrees was, in fact, a tragic accident.
The state's own medical examiner reversed the manner of death from homicide to accident. The State's key experts who originally testified against Ms. Mejia recanted their testimony supporting the prosecution's theory that an adult had to have intentionally caused the burns. Judge P. David Wahlberg found that no crime ever took place and subsequently, the CCA ruled that Ms. Mejia had established her innocence and overturned her conviction.
Read her full story here: https://bit.ly/46N7LSm
