What to know about Texas court’s decision to pause Roberson’s execution in shaken baby case
AUSTIN, Texas– AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas court’s halt to Robert Roberson’s execution just days before his death is likely to raise new arguments and scrutiny of cases that rely on medical science and evidence in a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
Roberson would have been the first person in the country executed in a case related to shaken baby syndrome. He remains on death row for now, but the pause in his execution – the third since 2016 – not only gives him more time, but also possibly a new trial.
Thursday’s ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals builds on a decade-old state law that allows courts to review convictions based on science that has changed or been refuted, and a recent court ruling that overturned a conviction in another shaken baby case.
Roberson, 58, was convicted in 2003 in the death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis. He was scheduled to receive a lethal injection on October 16. The decision did not overturn his conviction or immediately reduce his sentence.
Evidence of shaken baby syndrome, which refers to a severe brain injury caused when a child’s head is injured from shaking or other violent impact, such as being thrown against a wall or thrown to the ground, was critical to Roberson’s case.
Shaken baby syndrome has received significant attention in recent years; Some lawyers and medical experts say the diagnosis has wrongly sent people to prison. Prosecutors and medical societies say it remains valid.
In 2013, Texas lawmakers passed a measure dubbed the “junk science law” that allows courts to review a case if the science behind a conviction changes or is debunked. But this law has not yet given rise to a new trial for a death row inmate.
That law was partly to blame for the delay in Roberson’s execution in 2016, but he was not granted a new trial and remained on death row.
Thursday’s ruling cited the court’s own decision last year to overturn the conviction of a Dallas man sent to prison for 35 years based on a similar shaken baby diagnosis. In that case, the court said the medical evidence and expert testimony might have been different if presented under 2024 scientific standards.
Roberson’s case drew widespread support from a coalition that included liberal and ultraconservative lawmakers, best-selling novelist John Grisham and even one of the original detectives assigned to Roberson’s case. They all want him to get a new trial. These efforts were challenged and criticized by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican.
Roberson’s legal team hailed the court-ordered review of his case as a major victory.
The case will be sent back to the East Texas County Trial Court to decide whether it merits a new trial. If so, he could be exonerated or re-convicted.
Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s attorneys, said Thursday that there was no timetable for when the trial court would consider his case, but that she was “committed to moving things forward as quickly as possible.”
Roberson has maintained his innocence. Her legal team says her daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia. Paxton, along with some medical experts and other members of Nikki’s family, maintain that the girl died because of child abuse and that Roberson had a habit of hitting his daughter.
“Robert adored Nikki, whose death was a tragedy,” Sween said. “We are confident that an objective review of the scientific and medical evidence will demonstrate that there was no crime.”
