Texas appeals court again pauses execution of Robert Roberson in shaken baby case

A death row inmate, poised to be the first individual in the United States executed for a conviction related to shaken baby syndrome, has received a temporary reprieve after a Texas criminal appeals court issued a stay on his execution for the third time.

Robert Roberson, aged 57, was granted the stay by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday, postponing his scheduled lethal injection on October 16. This decision was made under the state’s 2013 Junk Science Writ, which permits a reassessment of forensic evidence that his legal team believes will demonstrate his innocence in the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis.

“Robert loved Nikki deeply, and her death is a tragedy made worse by his wrongful conviction, which has devastated his family,” stated his attorney, Gretchen Sween.

“We firmly believe that a thorough review of the scientific and medical evidence will reveal no crime took place,” his attorneys asserted.

Since little Nikki was found deceased in 2002, Roberson has insisted on his innocence.

“I never harmed her in any way,” he disclosed in an interview with the Associated Press last week.

Roberson’s legal team has presented medical experts who assert that Nikki succumbed to complications from pneumonia and that the autopsy report from the medical examiner, indicating blunt force trauma as the cause of death, was “unreliable.”

Conversely, other family members have claimed that Roberson exhibited a pattern of abuse toward Nikki.

A September 26 op-ed in The Dallas Morning News featured three pediatricians, including two from Yale School of Medicine, who stated that Nikki was undoubtedly a victim of child abuse, but advocated against his execution.

The pediatricians highlighted that Nikki’s autopsy provided “clear evidence of blunt force head trauma,” detailing findings of substantial brain swelling, extensive bleeding on the brain’s surface, multiple impacts under the scalp, bleeding in the eyes, and bruising on her face and body.

“The evaluation and autopsy of her indicate a violent and traumatic death,” the pediatricians concluded.

The execution stay has brought a sigh of relief to Roberson’s supporters, which include popular author John Grisham, influential Texas GOP donor Doug Deason, and the former lead investigator on Roberson’s case, Brian Wharton.

Wharton stated in a recent Innocence Project video that he is “100% convinced of Robert’s innocence.”

GOP State Representative Brian Harrison expressed support for the court’s decision, saying on the opposite side of the political spectrum, “These courageous judges took their obligation to seek justice seriously, even when faced with immense— and misleading— political pressures to execute a possibly innocent individual who has not received a fair trial.”

Since his first scheduled execution date over nine years ago, Roberson, along with his legal team, has pursued numerous state and federal appeals, including petitions to the Supreme Court, aiming to stop his impending execution.

Roberson’s case has now been referred back to the trial court in East Texas for further examination.