HOUSTON (AP) – Texas’ highest criminal court on Thursday again put a moratorium on executions. robert robersondays before he was sentenced to death for his first diagnosis-related murder conviction in the United States. shaken baby syndrome.
This was the third execution date for which Roberson’s attorney was able to stay. From 2016including one scheduled almost 1 year ago Because of unprecedented intervention From a bipartisan group of Texas state legislators who believe he is innocent.
Latest run stay Approved by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Roberson was scheduled to receive a lethal injection. October 16th We mourn the death of our 2 year old daughter Nikki Curtis.
Since the date of his first execution more than nine years ago, Roberson’s lawyers have filed multiple petitions seeking stays in state and federal appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. They also asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole and Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene as part of an effort to get Mr. Roberson a new trial.
Will the “junk science” law ensure a new trial for Mr. Roberson?
“He is actually innocent,” one of Roberson’s attorneys, Gretchen Sween, told reporters after the court’s ruling. “I hope to prove it and bring him home someday.”
Roberson’s lawyers argued that Roberson’s then-undiagnosed autism led to his conviction because authorities and medical personnel felt that Roberson’s flat state of mind was interpreted as a sign of guilt and that he was not behaving like a concerned parent. He was diagnosed with autism in 2018.
Court granted stay based on Texas’ 2013 junk science lawsThis allows people who have been convicted of a crime to seek redress if the evidence against them is no longer reliable. The newspaper cited an October 2024 ruling that overturned the conviction of another man, Andrew Rourke, in a separate baby shaking incident in Dallas. Mr. Roberson’s lawyers argue that the two lawsuits are indistinguishable.
The appeals court sent Roberson’s case back to a trial court in eastern Texas for a hearing to determine whether it should be retried.
Matthew Bowman, Nikki’s half-brother, said Nikki and her family were disappointed in Thursday’s verdict and believed Roberson should be executed. Bowman told The Associated Press that he believes the evidence shows Roberson repeatedly punched Nikki, causing her injuries.
“In my opinion, he was the only person who could have carried out the death penalty that night. So we hope that executions will be reinstated.”
The Texas attorney general’s office, which is seeking Roberson’s execution, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Appeals court focuses on similar shaken baby syndrome case
Roberson’s lawyers had asked for the stay to be granted based on new legal and scientific developments and expert analysis showing Nikki’s death was the result of illness and accident, not abuse. It included a joint statement from 10 independent pathologists that said the coroner’s autopsy report, which concluded Nicky died from blunt force head trauma, was “unreliable.”
Roberson’s lawyers also alleged judicial misconduct, saying the judge who oversaw his trial had previously allowed Roberson to circumvent custody and failed to disclose that Nikki’s grandparents had allowed Nikki to be removed from life support.
The appeals court rejected both arguments, saying it would instead grant a stay to consider the issues raised in Rourke’s case “in its own discretion.”
In granting Rourke a new trial, the appeals court found that the science had been altered to undermine the prosecution’s theory of the shaken baby syndrome case and that Rourke likely would not have been found guilty under “evolving scientific evidence.” The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office later dropped the charges against Rourke.
“We know that Mr. Rourke has changed the legal landscape in Texas, and that should mean relief for Mr. Robert,” Sween said.
Roberson told The Associated Press that he has long maintained his innocence. In an interview last week A death row inmate in Livingston, Texas, revealed that he did not abuse his daughter.
“I never shook her or hit her,” he said.
The diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome refers to severe brain damage that occurs when a child’s head is injured by a shaking or violent impact, such as being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor.
Some authorities believe Nikki was a victim of child abuse
Prosecutors at Roberson’s 2003 trial and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office argued that Roberson punched and violently shook Nikki, causing severe head trauma. She was a victim of child abuse and died from injuries related to shaken baby syndrome.
In an editorial on September 26th dallas morning newsThree pediatricians, including two from Yale University School of Medicine, reviewed the case and said, “We are convinced that Nikki is a victim of child abuse.”
In recent years, shaken baby syndrome has been in the spotlight. Some lawyers and medical professionals believe that this diagnosis is Erroneous transmission people to prison. with the prosecutor medical society He says it remains valid.
Mr. Roberson’s supporters include: Liberal and ultra-conservative membersDoug Deason, a major donor to the Texas Republican Party and conservative activist, best-selling author John Grisham, and Brian Wharton, a former police detective who helped put together the case against him.
Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison, one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature, praised Remain.
“Robert Roberson has never had due process or a fair trial in over 20 years,” Harrison told reporters Thursday.
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Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70
