The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday night blocked the execution of a man who would have been the first in the United States to be put to death for a murder conviction related to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
Supporters of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in 2002, have worked their way through both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, a Texas court not normally involved in criminal cases. He filed a lawsuit in the High Court. The state's highest criminal court on the same day rejected a lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop lethal injection.
Mr. Roberson's supporters include a coalition of Republicans and Democrats who say he is innocent and was convicted on flawed scientific evidence.
Hours after the original Texas execution time of 6 p.m. local time, Roberson remained in a prison cell a few feet from the death chamber at Walls' unit in Hunstville.
Gov. Greg Abbott had the power to delay Roberson's punishment for 30 days. Mr. Abbott has halted only one impending execution in his nearly 10 years as governor, and he has not spoken publicly about that case.
The Texas Court of Appeals' decision was one of a flurry of legal rulings hours before Mr. Roberson's scheduled lethal injection.
At the same time that a state judge in Austin was issuing the temporary restraining order, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a 10-page statement on the case, urged Abbott to grant him a 30-day stay, but the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt the execution. .
The state's legal battle for the death penalty faced a midnight CDT deadline when the death warrant authorizing Roberson's execution expired.
But the case needs to be resolved well before then, as authorities need to carry out steps such as installing an intravenous needle to allow time for the injection to take effect and for doctors to declare death. There is a high possibility that there is.
Earlier Thursday night, an Austin judge suspended the execution after the Texas Legislature issued a subpoena for Roberson to testify before them next week in a last-ditch effort to halt the execution. did.
“This is an unusual relief that Congress is seeking, but it is not unreasonable.
Congress has this constitutional authority,” state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican and a member of the Texas House Criminal Justice Committee, said during a Zoom court hearing.
Roberson, 57, was convicted of killing his daughter Nikki Curtis in the East Texas city of Palestine. Mr. Roberson has maintained his innocence for years, with support from prominent Republicans, Texas Republican Party major donor and conservative activist Doug Deason, and the lead detective in the case. Roberson's lawyers and some medical experts maintain that her daughter died from complications related to pneumonia, not abuse.
“He is innocent and we are going to kill him for something he didn't do,” said Brian Wharton, the lead Palestinian police detective who investigated Curtis' death.
Lawyers ask Texas governor and Supreme Court to intervene
Mr. Roberson's lawyers were waiting to see whether Mr. Abbott would grant Mr. Roberson a one-time 30-day reprieve. This is the only action Abbott can take in the case, since the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole denied Roberson's request for clemency on Wednesday.
The board voted unanimously, 6-0, not to recommend commuting Roberson's death sentence to life in prison or delaying his execution.
All directors are appointed by the Governor. Since the state resumed executions in 1982, parole boards have recommended clemency in death row cases only six times.
In nearly a decade as governor, Abbott has only stopped an impending execution once, in 2018 when he saved the life of Thomas Whitaker.
“We pray that Governor Abbott will do everything in his power to prevent the tragic and irreversible mistake of executing an innocent man,” Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson's attorneys, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Mr. Abbott did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Bipartisan committee takes unusual step to halt execution
The Texas commission held an all-day meeting Wednesday on Roberson's case. In a surprising move at the end of the hearing, the committee issued a subpoena to Mr. Roberson to testify next week.
During the meeting in Austin, the committee heard testimony regarding Mr. Roberson's case and the 2013 law enacted to allow people in prison to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence. He heard testimony about whether the law was ignored in Mr. Roberson's case.
Anderson County District Attorney Alison Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, told the committee that a court hearing was held in 2022 in which Roberson's attorneys presented new evidence to the judge, but the judge said it rejected their claims.
“The combined evidence shows that a murder occurred here. Mr. Roberson took the life of his almost 3-year-old daughter,” Mitchell said.
Most of the committee members were part of a bipartisan group of more than 80 state legislators, including at least 30 Republicans, who had asked the parole board and Abbott to halt executions.
Execution puts spotlight on shaken baby syndrome
Roberson's case renews the debate over shaken baby syndrome, known in the medical community as a form of abusive head trauma.
His lawyers, Texas lawmakers, medical experts, and others, including best-selling author John Grisham, argue that his conviction was based on incomplete and now outdated scientific evidence.
This diagnosis refers to severe brain damage that occurs when a child's head is injured by a violent impact, such as a shake or being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor.
Roberson's supporters do not deny that the head and other injuries caused by child abuse are real.
But doctors misdiagnosed Curtis' injuries as related to shaken baby syndrome, and new evidence showed he died from complications related to severe pneumonia.
Roberson's lawyers say her daughter fell out of bed at Roberson's home after being seriously ill for about a week.
Roberson's attorney also said his daughter's undiagnosed autism at the time of her death was used against him because authorities suspected him because of his lack of emotion in response to his daughter's death. he suggested.
Autism affects the way people communicate and interact with others.
