AUSTIN, TX — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas court Pause of execution to Robert Roberson Just days before his scheduled death, it is likely to spark new arguments and scrutiny of cases that rely on medical science and evidence to diagnose the disease. Shaken baby syndrome.
Roberson would have been the first person in the country to be executed in a case linked to shaken baby syndrome. He remains on death row at the moment, but the temporary halt to his execution – the third since 2016 – not only gives him more time, but may also grant him a new trial.
The ruling issued Thursday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals was based on a decade-old state law that allows courts to review convictions based on science that has been changed or debunked, and a recent court ruling that overturned a conviction in another shaken baby case.
Roberson, 58, was convicted in 2003 of killing his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis. He was scheduled to receive a lethal injection on October 16. The ruling did not immediately overturn his conviction or reduce his sentence.
Crucial to Roberson’s case was trial evidence of shaken baby syndrome, which refers to a serious brain injury that occurs when a child’s head is injured by shaking or other violent impact, such as being slammed against a wall or thrown to the floor.
Shaken baby syndrome has come under scrutiny in recent years; Some lawyers and medical experts say the diagnosis has been made Sent incorrectly the people To prison. Public Prosecution and Medical associations He says it is still valid.
In 2013, Texas lawmakers passed a measure called the “junk science law” that allows courts to take a second look at a case if incriminating science develops or is debunked. But this law has not yet led to a new trial for the death row prisoner.
That law was partly the basis for delaying Roberson’s execution in 2016, but he did not get a new trial and remained on death row.
Thursday’s ruling cited the court’s decision last year to overturn the conviction of a Dallas man who was sent to prison for 35 years based on a similar diagnosis of a shaken baby. In that case, the court said the medical evidence and expert testimony might have been different if presented under the 2024 scientific standards.
Roberson’s case has attracted a wide range of support from the coalition, which included… Liberal and ultra-conservative lawmakersAnd best-selling novelist John Grisham and even one of the original investigators in the Roberson case. They all want him to secure a new trial. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, has opposed the effort.
Roberson’s legal team praised the court-ordered review of his case as a major victory.
The case will return to the District Court in East Texas to decide whether he deserves a new trial. If so, he may be acquitted or convicted again.
Gretchen Swain, one of Roberson’s attorneys, said Thursday that there is no timeline for when the lower court will review his case but that she is “determined to move this forward as quickly as possible.”
Roberson has maintained his innocence. His legal team says his daughter died not from abuse but from complications related to pneumonia. Paxton, as well as some medical experts and Nikki’s other family members, maintain that the girl died of child abuse and that Roberson had a history of beating his daughter.
“Robert adored Nikki, whose death was a tragedy,” Swain said. “We are confident that an objective review of the scientific and medical evidence will show that there was no crime.”