After years of lawyers and advocates arguing Robert Roberson‘s capital punishment sentence was based on junk science and a misdiagnosis of “shaken baby syndrome,” the Texas Supreme Court on Thursday night blocked his execution.
The move to halt Roberson’s execution is temporary, but came less than two hours before the 57-year-old death row inmate was scheduled to die by lethal injection.
According to the Washington Post, Roberson could have been the first American to receive the death penalty for a conviction related to shaken baby syndrome, a brain injury caused by forcefully shaking an infant or toddler. The condition can cause permanent brain damage or death.
Roberson was put on death row when he was convicted of murdering his two-year-old daughter after he brought her to a hospital in Palestine, Texas, in 2002. He told doctors his daughter, Nikki Curtis, had a fever and fell out of bed after a week of being seriously ill. The little girl, who doctors told the court was “blue” in complexion, was later pronounced dead at another hospital.
Doctors suspected Curtis had been abused and diagnosed the girl with shaken baby syndrome.
Roberson was sentenced to death for capital murder in 2003.
Since then, Roberson’s lawyers and bipartisan supporters have tried to stop his execution. Advocates have long argued Curtis died of complications from pneumonia, which progressed into sepsis.
Roberson’s execution was stayed via a temporary restraining order issued by a Travis County judge. The order will allow Roberson to testify in a new hearing at the state legislature next week, on Oct. 21.
On Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives voted unanimously to issue a subpoena for Roberson to appear at the hearing, thereby stalling his execution. Representatives argued executing Roberson before he could offer subpoenaed testimony would violate the Legislature’s constitutional authority.
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Such a method to halt an execution had never been tried before, AP reported.
The petition was denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court also refused to halt the execution.
But on Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court weighed in with its order and granted the stay, ending a night of uncertainty.
A total of 86 bipartisan lawmakers in Texas, among them dozens of lawyers and medical and scientific experts, publicly called for Roberson to be pardoned. His supporters argue Roberson’s conviction predates a proper medical understanding of shaken baby syndrome.
Additionally, Roberson’s lawyers have argued his 2018 autism diagnosis, which came over a decade after his daughter’s death, must be considered in the case.
The diagnosis adds context, Roberson’s lawyers argue, in part because doctors said Roberson showed little emotion over his daughter’s death, evoking suspicion. Autism, a neurodevelopmental condition, can often affect how a person communicates with others.
Roberson’s lawyer, Gretchen Sween, in a statement praised the “contingent of brave, bipartisan Texas lawmakers [who] chose to dig deep into the facts of Robert’s case.”
She said no court before yesterday had yet to recognize that Roberson’s “life was worth fighting for.”
“He lives to fight another day and hopes that his experience can help improve the integrity of our criminal legal system,” the lawyer concluded. “Thank you to all who have supported Robert, an innocent man on Texas’s death row.”
Roberson is supported by the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization that works to exonerate wrongly convicted people through DNA testing and other legal means.
Texas state representatives Joe Moody (Democrat) and Jeff Leach (Republican) said they are “deeply grateful to the Texas Supreme Court” for the decision to block Roberson’s execution.
“For over 20 years, Robert Roberson has spent 23.5 hours of every single day in solitary confinement in a cell no bigger than the closets of most Texans, longing and striving to be heard,” the statement reads.
“We look forward to welcoming Robert to the Texas Capitol, and along with 31 million Texans, finally giving him—and the truth—a chance to be heard.”
Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Amanda Hernandez said she spoke with Roberson after his execution was stayed.
“He was shocked, to say the least,” she said. said. “He praised God and he thanked his supporters. And that’s pretty much what he had to say.”
It is rare for the Texas Supreme Court — the state’s highest civil court — to get involved in a criminal matter. But how the all-Republican court wound up stopping Roberson’s execution in the final hours underlined the extraordinary manoeuvres used by a bipartisan coalition of state House lawmakers who have come to his defence.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has the power to delay a prisoner’s capital punishment for 30 days, did not intervene and has not spoken publicly about the case.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, whose members are appointed by the governor, denied Roberson clemency in a 6-0 vote.
— With files from the Associated Press
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