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topicnews · October 17, 2024

Robert Roberson is to be executed in Texas for “shaken baby syndrome.”

Robert Roberson is to be executed in Texas for “shaken baby syndrome.”

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Despite significant doubts about Robert Roberson’s guilt in the death of his two-year-old daughter in 2002, the 57-year-old is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday evening.

If carried out, it would be the first execution in the United States based on allegations of shaken baby syndrome, which critics have widely disputed as a misdiagnosis. In recent years, diagnoses of shaken baby syndrome have been successfully challenged in criminal cases.

Many believe that Roberson was wrongfully convicted based on “garbage science” and that he is not responsible for the death of his two-year-old daughter, Nikki. Roberson also maintains his innocence.

Several Texas lawmakers and the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty claim Roberson spent more than 20 years on death row for a “crime that never happened.” The Innocence Project, which is advocating for Roberson’s clemency, also claims that the “case is rife with unscientific evidence, inaccurate and misleading medical testimony, and prejudicial treatment.”

Texas was the first state to pass a “junk science law” — which allows individuals to appeal convictions based on debunked forensic science — but since the law went into effect in 2013, no Texan on death row has successfully filed one new process implemented.

What was Nikki’s cause of death?

Roberson’s daughter Nikki was chronically ill. According to USA TODAY, in 2002, Roberson heard a scream and realized Nikki had fallen out of bed. After calming them down, they both fell asleep again. When Roberson later woke up, he found Nikki wasn’t breathing and her lips had turned blue. In the emergency room, doctors noticed symptoms that suggested brain death.

She was pronounced dead the next day.

Lead Detective Brian Wharton, who initially supported the diagnosis, arrested Roberson before an autopsy could be completed. Wharton now believes his original conclusions were wrong.

Wharton, the former police officer who led the investigation and Roberson’s arrest, told USA TODAY that Nikki suffered from pneumonia in both lungs, had underlying medical conditions for which she was prescribed opioids now banned for children, and an undiagnosed condition Sepsis. He explained that his own assumptions contributed to the case against Roberson.

When Roberson took Nikki to the hospital, doctors, nurses and investigators noted a lack of emotion that Wharton initially thought was suspicious. He now understands this as a behavior often associated with autism, a condition Roberson suffers from.

“I was wrong. I haven’t seen Robert. I didn’t hear Robert,” Wharton said. “I can tell you now, he is a good man. He is a friendly man. He is a lovely man. And he didn’t do what the state of Texas and I accused him of doing.”

Lawmakers and lawyers are calling for a last-minute pardon

Late Monday, Robert Roberson’s lawyers filed successive habeas petitions and an emergency motion for a stay of execution with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Then on Tuesday morning, members of the Texas House of Representatives Criminal Justice Committee wrote a letter calling for a stay of execution for Roberson until the end of the 2025 legislative session to give lawmakers time to make changes to Article 11,073 and other relevant laws to check.

Read Tuesday’s brief letter from members of the Texas House of Representatives calling for his stay.

A group of people also delivered more than 133,000 petition signatures to the Capitol on Wednesday, calling on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to stop his execution.

Earlier this month, on Oct. 7, Roberson’s lawyers filed an emergency motion with the Texas Court of Appeals requesting a postponement of his execution and a reconsideration of his conviction. Roberson also filed a petition for clemency.

In an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt, Roberson expressed hope that the governor would grant him a pardon.

“Look at the support I have, Mr. Governor,” he said. “And I just hope and pray that you do the right thing. Let me go home.”

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