Robert Roberson is about to be the primary individual to be executed within the U.S. based on the largely discredited “shaken baby syndrome” speculation until Texas officers intervene.
On Monday, Roberson's attorneys filed an emergency movement asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to halt Roberson's Oct. 17 execution.
“[Roberson] fluctuates between despair, and then being buoyed with hope when anyone expresses sympathy and encouragement,” his legal professional Gretchen Sween advised ABC News. “It is yet another layer of cruelty in this process watching what he's going through.”
Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson, heart, at a jail, Sept. 27, 2024, in Livingston, Texas.
Criminal Justice Reform Caucus by way of AP
Nikki's demise
According to Roberson's attorneys, he wakened to discover his 2-year-old daughter Nikki mendacity on the ground on the foot of the mattress one night time in 2002. They say Roberson comforted her, put her again to mattress and went again to sleep himself. He discovered Nikki unconscious with blue lips when he wakened the following morning. He took her to an emergency room, the place she was finally pronounced useless.
Roberson, a 57-year-old man, was then convicted in her demise.
Roberson was discovered responsible based on the testimony from a pediatrician who cited swelling and hemorrhages in Nikki's mind on the time as a “shaken baby syndrome” prognosis regardless that there's restricted proof to help this as an correct prognosis. The speculation has come beneath severe scrutiny in biomechanical research, as well as lengthening medical and legal literature. The health worker additionally suspected that Nikki sustained a number of head accidents, and thought of the demise a murder within the official post-mortem.
ABC News has reached out to each the pediatrician and health worker cited in court docket paperwork for remark.
Roberson is autistic, in accordance to his authorized crew, which impacts how he expresses feelings — a priority that additionally arose through the trial.
Since his conviction, new proof discovered that Nikki had pneumonia on the time of her demise and had been prescribed respiratory-suppressing medicine by medical doctors within the days main up to her demise. These medicine embody the narcotic drug codeine and promethazine, each of that are not prescribed to youngsters Nikki's age or these in her situation as a result of it may impair their potential to breathe and be lethal.
Following a autopsy toxicology report, medical toxicology and emergency room drugs knowledgeable Dr. Keenan Bora concluded that top ranges of promethazine are doubtless to have exacerbated Nikki's points respiratory.
A reexamination of her lung tissue by lung pathology knowledgeable Dr. Francis Green additionally discovered that continual interstitial viral pneumonia and acute bacterial pneumonia have been damaging her lungs, inflicting sepsis after which septic shock, main to very important organ failure.
Over 30 medical and scientific specialists have written to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to rethink Roberson's sentence that was hinged on the “shaken baby syndrome.”
“Today, no reputable medical doctor would fail to conduct a thorough, multi-disciplined exploration of all possible causes of death because it is now known that many phenomena — including accidental short falls and naturally occurring disease — can cause the same intracranial conditions that ‘mimic' inflicted head injury,” the letter learn.
This handout picture courtesy of the Innocence Project reveals Robert Roberson photographed by plexiglass on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Polunsky Unit, Dec. 19, 2023, in Livingston, Texas.
Ilana Panich-linsman/Innocence Project/AFP by way of Getty Images
Legal questions proceed
Roberson's attorneys argue that state law Article 11.073 permits evaluations of wrongful convictions based on adjustments in scientific proof.
A bipartisan group of 86 Texas House of Representatives members have spoken out in help of Roberson's clemency request, arguing that Article 11.073 ought to have resulted in a brand new trial.
“Meeting Robert truly brought home the tragic reality of his situation,” state Rep. Lacey Hull stated in a statement to the advocacy group the Innocence Project. “Despite his pending execution, he is full of hope and faith and a desire to help others. He still grieves the loss of his daughter and is hopeful and thankful to everyone helping his cause. I am praying that he sees the justice and new trial that he and Nikki deserve.”
In 2013, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Roberson's request to overturn his conviction, after a neighborhood decide argued his case had inadequate proof, in accordance to The Texas Tribune.
The Court of Criminal Appeals denied Roberson's most up-to-date petition for a brand new trial in September, dismissing the applying as “an abuse of the writ,” or elevating a declare that ought to have been raised in an earlier petition.
The court docket declined to handle the deserves of Roberson's declare within the dismissal.
Lead detective Brian Wharton, who directed Roberson to be arrested based on the “shaken baby” theory and testified towards him within the trial, has additionally since known as for Roberson's freedom.
“I will forever be haunted by the role I played in helping the State put this innocent man on death row,” he stated in a letter in help. “Robert's case will forever be a burden on my heart and soul. But it is not too late for Texas to change course and stop his execution. I sincerely hope that Governor Abbott and the Board will step in to do so.”
Since 1992, greater than 30 folks have been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted beneath the shaken baby speculation, in accordance to the National Registry of Exonerations.
ABC News has reached out to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for additional remark.
