In an Eleventh-hour flip of occasions, Robert Roberson, the primary particular person set to be executed within the U.S. based mostly on the largely discredited “shaken child syndrome” speculation, was granted a short lived maintain on his loss of life sentence.
Late Thursday night, the Texas Supreme Court docket issued a short lived keep within the case, delaying the looming execution and capping, for now, a back-and-forth collection of authorized maneuvers, together with an earlier determination by the U.S. Supreme Court docket to not intervene within the case.
When he realized of the last-minute delay of his execution, Roberson, who was convicted of homicide within the loss of life of his 2-year-old daughter, was “shocked,” after which “praised God, thanked his supporters and proclaimed his innocence,” mentioned Amanda Hernandez, director of communications for the Texas Division of Felony Justice, throughout a information convention Thursday night.
The Texas excessive courtroom’s ruling got here after Travis County District Court docket Choose Jessica Mangrum initially put a short lived maintain on Roberson’s execution to permit him to testify in a legislative listening to subsequent week — one thing sought by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers who had subpoenaed Roberson to look in a bid to delay the execution.
The momentary maintain got here by way of lower than two hours earlier than Roberson was scheduled to be executed. Shortly thereafter, nevertheless, the Texas Court docket of Felony Appeals reversed it, placing the execution again on observe.
In response, state lawmakers shortly sought a short lived keep by the state’s Supreme Court docket, which in the end granted the request.
Notably, Roberson’s execution warrant was solely legitimate by way of Oct. 17.
A legislative listening to at which Roberson is about to testify is scheduled for midday on Monday within the Texas State Capitol.
“For 22 years, this man has been held in jail — on loss of life row — and we’re hoping that with this ruling at present we’ll have the ability to deliver gentle and get to reality,” Texas State Rep. John Bucy advised reporters after the Texas Supreme Court docket issued its order halting the execution.
Monday’s listening to, partially, will look at legal guidelines in Texas focusing on “junk science” or unreliable forensic science proof.
“We would have liked Robert to be there as a first-hand account, to have the ability to testify to the way it’s been utilized in his case,” Bucy mentioned.
This handout picture courtesy of the Innocence Mission exhibits Robert Roberson photographed by way of plexiglass on the Texas Division of Felony Justice Polunsky Unit, Dec. 19, 2023, in Livingston, Texas.
Ilana Panich-linsman/Innocence Mission/AFP by way of Getty Photos
Roberson was discovered responsible of the homicide of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, based mostly on the testimony from a pediatrician who described swelling and hemorrhages in her mind to help a “shaken child syndrome” prognosis, though there may be restricted proof that it is a credible prognosis.
The speculation has come beneath severe scrutiny in biomechanical research, in addition to a rising physique of medical and authorized literature. The medical expert on the time additionally suspected that Nikki sustained a number of head accidents and thought of the loss of life a murder within the official post-mortem.
Roberson is autistic, in response to his authorized staff, which impacts how he expresses feelings — a priority that additionally arose in the course of the trial.
Since his conviction, newly introduced proof discovered that Nikki had pneumonia on the time of her loss of life and had been prescribed respiratory-suppressing medicine by medical doctors within the days main as much as her loss of life.
A medical skilled who carried out autopsy toxicology experiences and reexamined her lung tissue mentioned they discovered that continual interstitial viral pneumonia and acute bacterial pneumonia have been damaging her lungs, inflicting sepsis after which septic shock, seemingly resulting in important organ failure.
Over 30 medical and scientific specialists have written to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, asking it to rethink Roberson’s sentence as a result of it hinged on the “shaken child syndrome.”
A bipartisan group of 86 Texas Home of Representatives members have additionally spoken in help of Roberson’s clemency request, arguing {that a} state regulation permits opinions of wrongful convictions based mostly on adjustments in scientific proof. In Roberson’s case, they consider that the brand new proof ought to have led to a brand new trial.
Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson, heart, at a jail, Sept. 27, 2024, in Livingston, Texas.
Felony Justice Reform Caucus by way of AP
In his plea to halt the execution to the Supreme Court docket, Roberson argued that his federal due course of rights have been violated when Texas’ highest courtroom refused to contemplate his bid to reopen the case based mostly on “substantial new scientific and medical proof.”
The plea itself adopted two earlier efforts: to have his sentence commuted to life in jail and to have his execution delayed. Each requests have been denied by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
In its assertion of opposition to the Supreme Court docket on Wednesday, the state of Texas claimed that there was no violation of Roberson’s constitutional rights that might warrant intervention from the upper courtroom.
It mentioned that its personal courts have adequately thought-about and rejected Roberson’s requests to assessment the proof, writing: “As famous by the [Criminal Court of Appeal’s] opinion on direct assessment and Choose [Kevin] Yeary’s latest concurrence, ‘the tiny sufferer suffered a number of traumas’ which might be inconsistent with a brief fall from a mattress or problems from a virus.”
Earlier than the flurry of back-and-forth selections in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court docket denied Roberson’s request for a keep and his petition that the justices take up the case.